Body and Soul

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.