Overview

The Life and Text of Julian of Norwich considers the Long Text of the Medieval mystic Julian of Norwich from a literary and rhetorical perspective. Dr. Krantz analyzes Julian's text as a product of both the mystic's piety and the pressures of her time. Julian's calling and her text are reflected in and reflect, structurally, imagistically, and thematically, the centrality of the enclosing Mother in her life and thoughts.

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9780820436623

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With its meticulous attention to the intrinsic dynamics of Julian's long and short texts, this study is a convincing argument that metaphors and images of enclosure validate the mystic's choice of a life of enclosure and her own text as the product of her enclosure. The tightly focused analysis of the enclosure metaphor radiating through images of the womb and the relationship of soul and God generates an appropriate interpretation of the trope of Jesus as Mother and commentary on Julian's view of her femininity as well as her theology and spirituality. (Mary E. Giles, California State University, Sacramento) This fascinating and innovative reading of Julian of Norwich's Long Text explores and contextualizes the fourteenth-century mystic's various evocations of protective motherhood, from her famous 'Jesus as Mother' dictum to her own choice of a life of physical enclosure and the images and structures of enclosure in her vision-inspired text. Thus, in a simultaneously feminist, theological, and psychoanalytical approach, Dr. Krantz addresses areas where discourses of text and body meet, deftly showing how Julian valorizes both male and female bodies, relates warmly to a God having both male and female attributes, and offers an implicit challenge to the Church's traditional denigration of female sexuality. (Marijane Osborn, University of California, Davis)

Author Information

The Author: M. Diane F. Krantz is an assistant professor of English at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah, where she teaches medieval literature and the history of the English language.

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