Body and Soul: Essays on Medieval Women and Mysticism

by Elizabeth Alvilda Petroff

Opening a window onto a long-neglected world of women's experience, this text features eleven essays that examine the writings of medieval women mystics from England, France, Germany, Italy, and the Low Countries, providing close readings of a number of important texts from the viewpoint of different literary theories. Surveying various styles of hagiographical writing, the author offers ground-breaking scholarship on a broad range of topics such as how medieval holy women may have appeared to their contemporaries, medieval antifeminism, comparisons between earlier and later Christian mystical writing, the relationship between male confessors and female penitents in the Middle Ages, and the process by which these extraordinary women produced their work. For courses in religious, medieval, or women's studies, this unique text fills a conspicuous gap in an important and fascinating field of literature.

Genres: Medieval, Religion, History, Nonfiction, Feminism

256 pages, Paperback

First published April 14, 1994

Reviews

[Ryann · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was hoping for a book that would expound upon and act in conversation with one of my favorites, Holy Feast and Holy Fast by Caroline Walker Bynum; however, it did not live up to my expectations. It was interesting, but unfocused due to the essay format. It often felt more literary in criticism than historical, which was not my aim, at least, in reading it. I found one of the last essays, “The Rhetoric of Transgression in the Lives of Italian Women Saints” to be the most illuminating.

[Ella]

Read for Michaelmas Term Primary Tutorial: Medieval Female Mystics