This collection of essays surveys the richness of creation and creativity in order to draw out debates, sometimes implicit and sometimes formally stated, about the production and reproduction of cultural meaning between medieval and modern culture.

Ouverture: Degree Zero Between Past and FutureBabette HellemansIMAGESThe Two Bodies of the Virgin: On the Festival of Cirio de Nazaré Jean-Claude SchmittThe Three Ages of Man and the Materialization of an Allegory: Inquiries on an Object at the Threshold of ModernityAndrea von Hülschen-EschLapsus figurae: Remarks on Iconographic ErrorPierre-Olivier DittmarIMPROVISATIONSDrawing a Line and Questioning ArtNicola SuthorFall and Rise AgainIrit KleimanImprovisation as a Chief Pillar of the Poetic Art in Persian Literary TraditionAsghar Seyed-GohrabSOUNDIntending the ListenerRokus de GrootThe Sovereign Ear: Handel's Water Music and Aural HistoriographySander van MaasWhere Sound and Meaning Part: Language and Performance in Early Hebrew PoetryIrene ZwiepSILENCEWriting about Silence and the Secret in the Twelfth Century: Monastic Variations on a Biblical Theme Cédric GiraudAn Arrangement of Silence: Shaping Monastic Identity in Anselm of Canterbury's Letter CollectionsTheo LapDimidia Hora: Liminal Silence in Bernard of Clairvaux, Anselm of Canterbury, and Barack ObamaBurcht PrangerList of Contributors