Generation of Identity in Late Medieval Hagiography: Speaking the Saint (Routledge Research in Medieval Studies, 1)

In this interdisciplinary and boundary-breaking study, Gail Ashton examines the portrayals of women saints in a wide range of medieval texts. She deploys the French feminist critical theory of Cixous and Iriguray to illuminate these depictions of women by men and to further our understanding of both the lives and deeds of female saints and the contemporary, and almost always male, attitudes to them. Book Cover......Page 1 Title......Page 4 Contents......Page 5 Acknowledgements......Page 8 Abbreviations......Page 9 Introduction......Page 10 Narration and narratorial control: the masculine voice......Page 20 A concept of space and a notion of identity......Page 80 Articulating an identity: speech, silence, and self-disclosure......Page 112 Written on the body......Page 146 Conclusion: song of the saint......Page 167 Bibliography......Page 171 Index......Page 182 What, if anything, do a range of tales focusing upon the lives of female saints and largely written in the vernacular somewhere between 1200 and 1500, all by men, have in common? In this interdisciplinary and boundary breaking study, Gail Ashton examines the depiction of female saints in a wide range of medieval texts