Versions of virginity in late medieval England
By: Sarah Salih.
Publisher: D.S. Brewer
Published: 2001
Place of publication: Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK; Rochester, NY
Language: eng
Number of pages: 278
Subjects: Kempe, Margery, b. ca. 1373.; English literature -- Middle English, 1100-1500 -- History and criticism.; Women and literature -- England -- History -- To 1500.; Virginity -- Religious aspects -- Christianity -- History of doctrines -- Middle Ages, 600-1500.; Monasticism and religious orders for women -- England -- History -- Middle Ages, 600-1500.; Monastic and religious life of women -- England -- History -- Middle Ages, 600-1500.; Christian literature, English (Middle) -- History and criticism.; Women -- Religious life -- England -- History -- To 1500.; Christian hagiography -- History -- To 1500.; Christian saints in literature.; Virginity in literature.
Description: "Virginity is imagined by theological writers as perfect and timeless, yet as performed by individual persons, it is inherently imperfect and contingent. The legends of virgin martyrs imagine a virginity which is produced in the endurance of public torture; the torture scenes, often read as pornographic, instead highlight the contested status of the virgin body. Virginity is contained and feminised in the lives of nuns, produced communally with reference to such symbolic practices as veiling and enclosure. Margery Kempe, when read in the context of virginity theory, can claim at least to be like a virgin; if virginity is performative, she may indeed be its paradigm. Finally, virginity is the very opposite of stable and natural; it is active, contested, vulnerable but also recoupable."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 245-269) and index.
Table of contents: title: Machine generated contents note: 1. Introduction; title: Scope of the Study; title: The Critical Map; title: Narratives of Virginity; title: 2. Perpetual Incorruption in Corruptible Flesh: Towards a Theory of; title: Virginity; title: Medieval Terms; title: Modem Terms; title: 3. Performing Virginity: The Katherine Group; title: Binaries of Sanctity; title: Virgin Martyr Legends; title: The AB Texts; title: Virgins and Romance; title: Sponsae Christi; title: Sex, Violence and Spectacle; title: More Hagiographic Virginities; title: 4. Containing Virginity: The Veil and the Wall; title: Some Parameters; title: Gendering Nuns; title: The Monastic Self in the Community; title: The Veil and the Virgin Individual; title: The Wall and the Virgin Community; title: The Nun of Watton; title: 5. Like A Virgin? The Book of Margery Kempe; title: Placing Margery; title: Modes and Techniques of the Book; title: Reclaiming Yirginity; title: Hagiographic and Other Models; title: Margery and the Virgin Martyrs; title: Continuities and Ruptures; title: Martyrdom and Closure; title: Suffering and Penitence; title: Martyrdom by Slander; title: White Clothes; title: Relationships, Sexuality and Desire; title: Final Remarks; title: Conclusion; title: Bibliography; title: Index.