{"product_id":"mechthild-of-magdeburg-and-her-book-gender-and-the-making-of-textual-authority-hardback-9780812238020","title":"Mechthild of Magdeburg and Her Book; Gender and the Making of Textual Authority (Hardback) 9780812238020","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eMechthild of Magdeburg and Her Book\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cfont size=\"5\"\u003eGender and the Making of Textual Authority\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eSara S. Poor (Author)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9780812238020\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eHardback, published 13 July 2004\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e352 pages\u003cbr\u003e22.9 x 15.2 x 2.8 cm, 0.702 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\"Everyone who is genuinely interested in problems of women's writing, vernacularity, and the construction of textual authority will have much to learn from this book.\" (Barbara Newman, Northwestern University) \"Poor has not only contributed to our knowledge of Mechthild and the textual history of her work but provided an ambitious model for how to engage with a medieval text, its author, its reception by disparate readers, and its perception by modern scholars.\" (\u003ci\u003eThe Medieval Review\u003c\/i\u003e) \"Poor's astute examination of Mechthild's authorship and the historical transmission of her text contributes significantly not only to the fields of feminist medieval scholarship but also demonstrates how a medieval text can more broadly engage in the construction of religious, philosophical, and literary traditions across time.\"\" (\u003ci\u003eMedieval Feminist Forum\u003c\/i\u003e) \"This remarkable book, a kind of textual biography, is the product of meticulous research and is an astute reflection on the paradoxes of textual authority in mystical texts.\" (\u003ci\u003eJournal of Religion\u003c\/i\u003e)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eSometime around 1230, a young woman left her family and traveled to the German city of Magdeburg to devote herself to worship and religious contemplation. Rather than living in a community of holy women, she chose isolation, claiming that this life would bring her closer to God. Even in her lifetime, Mechthild of Magdeburg gained some renown for her extraordinary book of mystical revelations, \u003ci\u003eThe Flowing Light of the Godhead\u003c\/i\u003e, the first such work in the German vernacular. Yet her writings dropped into obscurity after her death, many assume because of her gender.\u003cbr\u003e In \u003ci\u003eMechthild of Magdeburg and Her Book\u003c\/i\u003e, Sara S. Poor seeks to explain this fate by considering Mechthild's own view of female authorship, the significance of her choice to write in the vernacular, and the continued, if submerged, presence of her writings in a variety of contexts from the thirteenth through the nineteenth century. Rather than explaining Mechthild's absence from literary canons, Poor's close examination of medieval and early modern religious literature and of contemporary scholarly writing reveals her subject's shifting importance in a number of differently defined traditions, high and low, Latin and vernacular, male- and female-centered.\u003cbr\u003e While gender is often a significant factor in this history, Poor demonstrates that it is rarely the only one. Her book thus corrects late twentieth-century arguments about women writers and canon reform that often rest on inadequate notions of exclusion. \u003ci\u003eMechthild of Magdeburg and Her Book\u003c\/i\u003e offers new insights into medieval vernacular mysticism, late medieval women's roles in the production of culture, and the construction of modern literary traditions.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003ePreface\u003cbr\u003e Introduction: The Problem of Mechthild's Authorship\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 1. Choosing the Vernacular: The Politics of Language and the Art of Devotion\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 2. Visions of Authorship: Cloaking the Body in Text\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 3. Transmission Lessons: Gender, Audience, and the Mystical Handbook\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 4. Productive Consumption: Women Readers and the Production of Late Medieval Devotional Anthologies\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 5. Historicizing Canonicity: Tradition and the Invisible Talent of Mechthild of Magdeburg\u003cbr\u003e Appendices\u003cbr\u003e Notes\u003cbr\u003e Bibliography\u003cbr\u003e Index\u003cbr\u003e Acknowledgments\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"University of Pennsylvania Press","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52555707810072,"sku":"9780812238020","price":52.79,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/mechthild-of-magdeburg-and-her-book-gender-and-the-making-of-textual-authority-hardback-9780812238020","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}