Intimate Reading: Textual Encounters in Medieval Women’s Visions and Vitae PDF
Preview Intimate Reading: Textual Encounters in Medieval Women’s Visions and Vitae
Revised Pages Intimate Reading Revised Pages Revised Pages Intimate Reading Textual Encounters in Medieval Women’s Visions and Vitae ❦ Jessica Barr University of Michigan Press Ann Arbor Revised Pages Copyright © 2020 by Jessica Barr All rights reserved For questions or permissions, please contact [email protected] Published in the United States of America by the University of Michigan Press Manufactured in the United States of America Printed on acid- free paper A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication data has been applied for. First published April 2020 Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Names: Barr, Jessica (Jessica Gail), 1976– author. Title: Intimate reading : textual encounters in medieval women’s visions and vitae / Jessica Barr. Description: Ann Arbor : University of Michigan Press, 2020. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifers: LCCN 2019044416 (print) | LCCN 2019044417 (ebook) | ISBN 9780472131693 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780472126354 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Women mystics— Europe— Biography— History and criticism. | Women mystics— Europe— History— To 1500. | Christian women— Religious life— Europe— History— To 1500. | Christian literature— Women authors— History and criticism. | Books and reading— Religious aspects— Christianity. | Human body— Religious aspects— Christianity. | Intimacy (Psychology)— Religious aspects— Christianity. | Visions in literature. Classifcation: LCC BV5083 .B295 2020 (print) | LCC BV5083 (ebook) | DDC 248.2/20820902— dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019044416 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019044417 Revised Pages For Bill and Silas Revised Pages Revised Pages Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1 Chapter 1. Avoiding Intimacy: Embodiment and Interpretation in Liégeois Hagiography 25 Chapter 2. Flirting with Intimacy: Wounds and Wonder in a Liégeois Codex 69 Chapter 3. Bookish Intimacy: Reading Margery Kempe 105 Chapter 4. Imagined Intimacy: Corporeal Encounters in Mechthild of Magdeburg and Gertrude of Helfa 139 Chapter 5. Dialogic Intimacy: Marguerite Porete and Julian of Norwich 177 Conclusion 217 Bibliography 223 Index 243 Digital materials related to this title can be found on the Fulcrum platform via the following citable URL: https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.11416747 Revised Pages Revised Pages Acknowledgments Over the last few years, I have had the great good fortune to fnd myself in the company of a large and growing number of scholars, academic friends, and interlocutors, and their help in the writing of this book has taught me the im- portance and the joys of having a scholarly community. It is my pleasure to thank them here. I started writing this book while a professor at Eureka College, and I would like to thank the friends and colleagues there whose encouragement meant so much to me, especially Phillip Acree Cavalier, Kathy Whitson, Scott and Jami Hemmenway, Erika Quinn, Renée Mullen, Prabhu Venkataraman, and Zeke Jarvis. I am also indebted to Eureka for funding my frst research trip to the Royal Library of Belgium and for a semester of research leave that gave me the time to begin working on this project in earnest. Upon my arrival at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, I was fortunate to be welcomed, through the Five College Medieval Studies Seminar, into a delightful group of medi- evalists, whose comments on my work have been tremendously helpful. Even more importantly, the friendship, enthusiasm, and collegiality of this group have created a deeply supportive research environment. For opportunities to share my work, constructive feedback, and much- needed “medieval drinks,” I thank Jenny Adams, Sonja Drimmer, Albert Lloret, Ingrid Nelson, Joshua Birk, Michael Papio, Stephen Harris, Nancy Bradbury, and Wes Yu. Funding for research and conference travel from the University of Massa- chusetts Amherst allowed me to complete the archival research required for chapter 2 and to present parts of my developing argument at various confer- ences around the United States and abroad, including the International Con- gress on Medieval Studies, the Berkshire Conference of Women Historians, and the International Conference on Women’s Literary Culture and the Medieval Canon at the University of Bergen. I am grateful to Laura Saetveit Miles for inviting me to present my work at the latter conference, and to the participants and audiences at all of these conferences for their thought-p rovoking questions and comments.
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