"Machines of the Mind is one of the most thorough and insightful texts on personification available. . . . Breen is a meticulous writer, and the book is successful in its aims. Taking on a large wealth of information and literature in stride, Breen writes out a detailed history. . . . Audiences who have a critical background in personification will find this book to be invaluable to their studies."

Comitatus

" Breen’s Machines of the Mind traces the formal and historical development of three traditions of personification that, as she argues throughout the book, are available to medieval authors: Prudentian, Platonic, and Aristotelian. She describes how each type of personification functions as a pliable and complex 'engine of thought' that allows writers and readers to think through difficult questions."

Qui Parle

“Machines of the Mind persuades its readers to think more systematically about the types and uses of personification. Breen clears away some forty years of confusion about medieval philosophical positions on realism and so-called nominalism, clearly differentiating them from the postmodern nominalism of twentieth-century high theory and imaginatively reconsidering their implications for literary representation. Her schema will allow future scholars to differentiate Platonic, Neoplatonic, moderate realist, and nominalist strategies for personification while also recognizing that many medieval works may employ multiple types at once. This book will remain a reference point for many years to come.”

Fiona Somerset, author of Feeling like Saints: Lollard Writings after Wyclif

"Machines of the Mind: Personification in Medieval Literature is a powerful and original intervention in medieval allegory studies and, more broadly, literary history and theory. This is a book that will reshape our thinking about the interaction between poetics and philosophy in antiquity and the Middle Ages."

Rita Copeland | Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies