title: Dreaming of Cockaigne. Medieval Fantasies of the Perfect Life
author:  Herman Pleij 
description: A very useful study, published with high production values, this book is distinguished by the huge amount of information it contains, clear organization, accessibility (thanks to Webb's fine translation...) and the array of artwork included... The book is an excellent example of the scholarly benefits of concentration on primary sources. (<i>Choice</i>)<br /><br />A serious and even ponderous scholarly study... [with] rigorous textual, paleographical and stylistic analysis... [and including] such interesting points as that modern-day supermarkets' unlimited abundance and vacation packages promising paradise on earth have succeeded in making this mythical land a reality. (<i>Publishers Weekly</i>)<br /><br />Following in the footsteps of Huizinga, Pleij makes a daring attempt to provide a complete picture of medieval life in the Netherlands. The result is a rich, at times cinematic, panorama of dreams and reality in the Middle Ages. (<i>NRC Handelsblad</i>)<br /><br />[A] remarkable book, a scholarly and sumptuous discussion of once-upon-a-time fantasies of the perfect life... rich, learned, witty, and admirably readable. (<i>The New Republic</i>)<br /><br />[A] compelling account of the experiences and beliefs of the middle ages.... Pleij's analyses extract much poignancy from material that may initially seem merely whimsical. (<i>The Guardian</i>)<br /><br />In this entertaining book [Pleij] trawls the medieval Cockaigne literature, partly to display its riches of fantasy and absurdity, and partly to investigate its purposes... There is an abundance of funny and striking information in Pleij's book, and its broad liberal sensibility rests on solid foundations of scholarship. (<i>Financial Times</i>)<br /><br />[A]nything Pleij writes in his native Dutch is a joy to read. Diane Webb's exrtemely smooth translation does proper justice to Pleij's prose, and her renditions of the Middle Dutch texts that form the core of this study deserve high praise. In sum, if Huizinga is truly the founder of Dutch cultural studies, then Pleij has demonstrated with this book that he is a worthy successor to the same cause. (David F. Johnson <i>Speculum</i>)
zlib_text: 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # I
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Lot Twenty-nine. Comprising a fine set of intestines, a reconditioned heart
  and a fully-functioning kidney—ah.” The auctioneer inclined his head more
  closely at the catalog on the auction block set up on an antique table. “A
  left kidney, ladies and gentlemen, male, in excellent condition and barely
  used. Now what offers have I?” He raised his eloquent hands and eyes
  supplicatingly. “Yes—a lady over there—”
  
  
  
  
  
  I assumed the lady in question, a purposeful lady large in every bodily
  requisite, wished to prolong her husband’s life for a few more years of
  nagging and domination.
  
  
  
  
  
  The ballroom of Gannets should have been left as it was, a place for fans and
  feathers, light laughter, the tinkle of punch glasses and the swirling
  intoxicating strains of waltzes, instead of being crammed in undignified
  disorder with most of the movable contents of the great house. Much we had
  seen earlier, walking soft-voiced through the long rooms of Gannets, seeing
  revealed a broa