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Margery Kempe's Spiritual Medicine
Suffering, Transformation and the Life-Course
Language:
English
Published/Copyright:
2020
About this book
The Book of Margery Kempe set in the context of medieval medical discourse.
Margery Kempe's various illnesses, mental, spiritual and physical, are a recurring theme in her Book. This volume, the first full-length interdisciplinary study from a medical humanities perspective, offers a medicalized reading of Kempe's spirituality in the context of the ubiquitous medieval notion of Christ the Physician, and thus a new way of interpreting the Book itself: as a narrative of Kempe's own engagement with the medical paradigms of which she has previously been a passive subject.
Focusing on the interactions of medicine, mysticism and reproduction as a feminist project, the author explores the ontology of female flesh; the productive use of pain, suffering and sickness; and the ethics of a maternal theology based on the melancholic and surrogate activities that underlie Kempe's experience. Structured broadly via a traverse through the life course, the book shows how Kempe'sresponse to suffering is illuminated by the medieval medical discourse by which she is contemporaneously read, and by which she engineers her own construction and understanding of self. It also explores Kempe's persistent attendance to her mystical body and refusal to compromise her instinct to authentically show how she feels.
LAURA KALAS is a Lecturer in Medieval Literature at Swansea University.
Margery Kempe's various illnesses, mental, spiritual and physical, are a recurring theme in her Book. This volume, the first full-length interdisciplinary study from a medical humanities perspective, offers a medicalized reading of Kempe's spirituality in the context of the ubiquitous medieval notion of Christ the Physician, and thus a new way of interpreting the Book itself: as a narrative of Kempe's own engagement with the medical paradigms of which she has previously been a passive subject.
Focusing on the interactions of medicine, mysticism and reproduction as a feminist project, the author explores the ontology of female flesh; the productive use of pain, suffering and sickness; and the ethics of a maternal theology based on the melancholic and surrogate activities that underlie Kempe's experience. Structured broadly via a traverse through the life course, the book shows how Kempe'sresponse to suffering is illuminated by the medieval medical discourse by which she is contemporaneously read, and by which she engineers her own construction and understanding of self. It also explores Kempe's persistent attendance to her mystical body and refusal to compromise her instinct to authentically show how she feels.
LAURA KALAS is a Lecturer in Medieval Literature at Swansea University.
Author / Editor information
Contributor: Laura Kalas
LAURA KALAS is Senior Lecturer in Medieval English Literature at Swansea University.
Topics
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Frontmatter
i -
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Contents
vii -
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List of Illustrations
ix -
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Acknowledgements
xi -
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Abbreviations
xiii -
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Note on Editions and Translations
xiv -
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Introduction
1 -
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1 Bleeding the Tears of Melancholia
29 -
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2 ‘Þe mukke’ of Marriage and the Sexual Paradox
59 -
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3 Lost Blood of the Middle Age: Surrogacy and Fecundity
97 -
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4 Margery Medica: The Healing Value of Pain Surrogacy
127 -
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5 The Passion of Death Surrogacy
161 -
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6 Senescent Reproduction: Writing Anamnestic Pain
183 -
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Afterword / Afterlife
211 -
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Glossary of Medical Terms
223 -
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Select Bibliography
225 -
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Index
245
Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
February 28, 2024
eBook ISBN:
9781787446878
Original publisher:
D.S.Brewer
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook ISBN:
9781787446878
Keywords for this book
medieval; interdisciplinary study; medical humanities; Christ the Physician; mysticism; feminist; ontology; medical discourse; spirituality; maternal theology
Audience(s) for this book
For an expert adult audience, including professional development and academic research
