Sacred biography : saints and their biographers in the Middle Ages / Thomas J. Heffernan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Heffernan, Thomas J., 1944-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

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

English prose literature.

Religion and literature.

Christian saints in literature.

Christian saints--Legends--History and criticism.

Christian saints.

Christian saints--Legends.

Christian hagiography.

Biography as a literary form.

Physical Description:

ix, 333 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Oxford University Press, 1988.

Summary:

Though medieval "saints' lives" are among the oldest literary texts of Western vernacular culture, they are routinely patronized as "pious fiction" by modern historiography. This book demonstrates that to characterize the genre as fiction is to misunderstand the intentions of medieval authors, who were neither credulous fools nor men blinded by piety. Concentrating on English texts, Heffernan reconstructs the medieval perspective and considers sacred biography in relation to the community for which it was written; identifies the genre's rhetorical practices and purposes; and demonstrates the syncretistic way in which the life of the medieval saint was transformed from oral tales to sacred text. In the process, Heffernan not only achieves a more contextually accurate understanding of the medieval saints' lives, but details a new critical method that has important implications for the practice of textual criticism.

Notes:

Includes index.

Bibliography: pages 300-318.

ISBN:

0195052250

OCLC:

17104811