Overview
Essays challenging the orthodox opinion of anchorites as entirely divorced from the world around them. Much of the research into medieval anchoritism to date has focused primarily on its liminal and elite status within the socio-religious cultures of its day: the anchorite has long been depicted as both solitary and alone, almost entirely removed from community and living a life of permanent withdrawal and isolation, in effect dead to the world. Considerably less attention has been afforded to the communal sociability that also formed part of the reclusivelife during the period, The essays in this volume, stemming from a variety of cross-disciplinary approaches and methodologies, lay down a challenge to this position, breaking new ground in their presentation of the medievalanchorite and other types of enclosed solitary as playing a central role within the devotional life of the communities in which they were embedded. They attest also to the frequent involvement of anchorites and other recluses in local, national and, sometimes, international matters of importance. Overall, the volume suggests that, far from operating on the socio-religious periphery, as posited previously, the medieval anchorite was more often found at theheart of a sometimes intersecting array of communities: synchronic and diachronic; physical and metaphysical; religious and secular; gendered and textual. CATE GUNN has taught in the Continuing Education and LiteratureDepartments of the University of Essex; LIZ HERBERT MCAVOY is Professor of Medieval Literature at Swansea University. Contributors: Diana Denissen, Clare Dowding, Clarck Drieshen, Cate Gunn, Catherine Innes-Parker, E.A. Jones, Dorothy Kim, Liz Herbert McAvoy, Godelinde Perk, James Plumtree, Michelle Sauer, Sophie Sawicka-Sykes, Andrew Thornton OSB,
Full Product Details
Author: Cate Gunn ,
Liz Herbert McAvoy ,
Andrew Thornton (Contributor) ,
Cate Gunn
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Ltd
Imprint: D.S. Brewer
Volume: v. 45
Dimensions:
Width: 15.60cm
, Height: 2.30cm
, Length: 23.40cm
Weight: 0.001kg
ISBN: 9781843844624
ISBN 10: 1843844621
Pages: 272
Publication Date: 16 June 2017
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Manufactured on demand
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.
Reviews
[T]his book represents a high achievement in scholarship, especially its contribution towards proving the communal sociability of rural and urban anchorites in medieval communities. READING RELIGION Will certainly widen the horizons of any readers beyond the well-known anchorite Julian of Norwich and her writings. THE RICARDIAN
An accessible entryway into its topic, the role of hermits, anchorites, and the like in medieval society. Anyone interested in anchorites could pick up this volume and find something compelling or relevant. SEHEPUNKTE [T]his book represents a high achievement in scholarship, especially its contribution towards proving the communal sociability of rural and urban anchorites in medieval communities. READING RELIGION Will certainly widen the horizons of any readers beyond the well-known anchorite Julian of Norwich and her writings. THE RICARDIAN
Author Information
CATE GUNN is an independent scholar who has written on thirteenth-century anchoritic and pastoral literature. LIZ HERBERT MCAVOY FLSW is Professor Emerita of Medieval Literature at Swansea University and Honorary Senior Research Associate at the University of Bristol. CATE GUNN is an independent scholar who has written on thirteenth-century anchoritic and pastoral literature. LIZ HERBERT MCAVOY FLSW is Professor Emerita of Medieval Literature at Swansea University and Honorary Senior Research Associate at the University of Bristol.
