Male Authors, Female Readers Representation and Subjectivity in Middle English Devotional Literature / Anne Clark Bartlett.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bartlett, Anne Clark, 1960-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mimesis in literature.

Subjectivity in literature.

Authorship--Sex differences.

Authorship.

Women and literature--England--History--To 1500.

Women and literature.

Women--Books and reading--England--History--To 1500.

Women.

Women--England--History--Middle Ages, 500-1500.

Women--Prayers and devotions--History and criticism.

English prose literature--Middle English, 1100-1500--History and criticism.

English prose literature.

Devotional literature, English (Middle)--Male authors--History and criticism.

Devotional literature, English (Middle).

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

1995. Ithaca : Cornell University Press,

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

"Holy men despise women...and view them as foul and sticking dirt in the road," asserst the male author of the fifteenth-century Book to a Mother. Middle English devotional writings reflect shades of mysogony ranging from the blatant to the subtle, yet these texts were among the most popular literature know to the earliest generation of English women readers. In the first book to examine this paradox, Anne Clark Bartlett considers why medieval women enjoyed such male-authored works as Speculum Devotorum, The Tree, The Twelve Fruits of the Holy Ghost, and Contemplations on the Dread and Love of God. Demonstrating that these texts actually provided alternative-and more appealing-notions of gender than those authorized by the Church, Bartlett redefines women's participation in medieval culture in terms of far greater agency and empowerment than have generally been acknowledged.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Preface

1. Reading Medieval Women Reading Devotional Literature

II. Gendering and Regendering: The Case of De institutione inclusarum

III. "Letters of Love": Feminine Courtesy and Religious Instruction

IV. "Ghostly Sister in Jesus Christ": Spiritual Friendship and Sexual Politics

V. "I Would Have Been One of Them": Translation, Contemplation, and Gender

Afterword: Beyond Misogyny(?)

Appendix: A Descriptive List of Extant Books Owned by Medieval English Nuns and Convents

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (p. 173-205) and index.

Description based on print version record.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9781501722080

1501722085

OCLC:

1083625264