Fruit of the Orchard Reading Catherine of Siena in Late Medieval and Early Modern England
Produktdetaljer
Biografisk notat
Jennifer N. Brown is an associate professor and chair of English and World Literatures at Marymount Manhattan College.
<p>"Brown has written a very well researched work. On the basis of twenty-one manuscript and printed excepts or complete copies of works by and about Catherine, she has constructed a plausible picture of how Catherine became known in England between 1400 and 1700, who read her and why."</p> - Hugh Feiss (<em>Journal of British Studies</em>) <p>"[<i>Fruit of the Orchard</i>] is a fascinating study of English piety that clearly will interest specialists in women’s visionary culture. [Brown’s] close readings of specific texts add to our understanding of their creation, transmission, and reception. Scholars investigating connections between gender and spiritual authority, as well as the discourse between Latin and vernacular texts in an era of increasing literacy and print culture, will come away with new questions to pursue."</p> - Lezlie Knox, Marquette University (<em>Early Modern Women</em>) <p>"<i>Fruit of the Orchard</i> has been a decade in the writing: it was worth waiting for."</p> - Luke Penkett, The Julian Centre, Norwich (<em>Spiritus</em>)
Fruit of the Orchard sheds light on how Catherine of Siena served as a visible and widespread representative of English piety becoming a part of the devotional landscape of the period. By analyzing a variety of texts, including monastic and lay, complete and excerpted, shared and private, author Jennifer N. Brown considers how the visionary prophet and author was used to demonstrate orthodoxy, subversion, and heresy.
Tracing the book tradition of Catherine of Siena, as well as investigating the circulation of manuscripts, Brown explores how the various perceptions of the Italian saint were reshaped and understood by an English readership. By examining the practice of devotional reading, she reveals how this sacred exercise changed through a period of increased literacy, the rise of the printing press, and religious turmoil.
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Finding Catherine of Siena in Late Medieval and Early Modern England
1. Compiling Catherine: The Visionary Woman, Stephen Maconi, and the Carthusian Audience
2. William Flete, English Spirituality, and Catherine of Siena
3. Catherine Excerpted: Reading the Miscellany
4. The Orcherd of Syon: How to Read in the Convent
5. Catherine in Print: Lay Audiences and Reading Hagiography
Conclusion - Reforming Reading: Catherine of Siena in an Age of Reform
Appendix A: Literary Ancestry Chart
Appendix B: Catherine Texts in England
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Produktdetaljer
Biografisk notat
Jennifer N. Brown is an associate professor and chair of English and World Literatures at Marymount Manhattan College.