"looking at the lives and voices of women in medieval literature"
November 12, 2021 5:32 AM Subscribe
Encounters with Medieval Women is a four episode series of the London Review of Books podcast where scholars Irina Dumitrescu and Mary Wellesley discuss four medieval texts by or about women: St. Mary of Egypt, Julian of Norwich, the Wife of Bath, and Margery Kempe. Each episode page has a full transcript.
Thank you for this.
Just finished reading the transcript about Mary of Egypt, and it so strongly made me think of A Canticle for Leibovitz, have to reread that.
posted by 15L06 at 6:33 AM on November 12, 2021 [2 favorites]
Just finished reading the transcript about Mary of Egypt, and it so strongly made me think of A Canticle for Leibovitz, have to reread that.
posted by 15L06 at 6:33 AM on November 12, 2021 [2 favorites]
oooh right up my alley, thanks!! looking forward to digging into this later yum.
posted by supermedusa at 6:46 AM on November 12, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by supermedusa at 6:46 AM on November 12, 2021 [1 favorite]
How dare you send me this on a workday. How will I be productive now?
Great post. Thanks !
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 6:58 AM on November 12, 2021 [1 favorite]
Great post. Thanks !
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 6:58 AM on November 12, 2021 [1 favorite]
I've been listening to these and enjoying learning about topics I know zero about. One thing I walked away from the Mary of Egypt one I think? Was the information that women's freedom waxes and wanes over time. So we have evidence for a more expansive set of options for women in European history and then that contracts and women's parameters become more limited. Maybe a massive over-extrapolation but I can't help but apply to recent history, thinking about cycles of liberation for women followed by contracting freedoms after.
posted by latkes at 11:56 AM on November 12, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by latkes at 11:56 AM on November 12, 2021 [1 favorite]
Related: Zadie Smith's first play is an adaptation of The Wife of Bath.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 1:56 PM on November 12, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 1:56 PM on November 12, 2021 [1 favorite]
The Julian of Norwich is wonderful.
"...The voice of the hidden waterfall
And the children in the apple-tree
Not known, because not looked for
But heard, half-heard, in the stillness
Between two waves of the sea.
Quick now, here, now, always—
A condition of complete simplicity
(Costing not less than everything)
And all shall be well and
All manner of thing shall be well
When the tongues of flame are in-folded
Into the crowned knot of fire
And the fire and the rose are one."
-T.S. Eliot. Little Gidding.
posted by clavdivs at 3:41 PM on November 12, 2021 [2 favorites]
"...The voice of the hidden waterfall
And the children in the apple-tree
Not known, because not looked for
But heard, half-heard, in the stillness
Between two waves of the sea.
Quick now, here, now, always—
A condition of complete simplicity
(Costing not less than everything)
And all shall be well and
All manner of thing shall be well
When the tongues of flame are in-folded
Into the crowned knot of fire
And the fire and the rose are one."
-T.S. Eliot. Little Gidding.
posted by clavdivs at 3:41 PM on November 12, 2021 [2 favorites]
I just listened to the last one! These were good fun, and now I know I need more history of women in my life.
posted by Valancy Rachel at 5:10 PM on November 13, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Valancy Rachel at 5:10 PM on November 13, 2021 [1 favorite]
« Older How China Avoided Soviet-Style Collapse | The Fallacy of Eating the Way Your... Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by Alex404 at 6:31 AM on November 12, 2021 [1 favorite]