In the Doorway of All Worlds

In the Doorway of All Worlds revisits the hagiographical poetry of Gonzalo de Berceo in the context of the emergent vernacular culture of thirteenth-century Iberia.

Robin M. Bower is an associate professor of Spanish at Pennsylvania State University.

Emily C. Francomano, Professor of Spanish, Georgetown University:
“In this abundantly detailed study, Bower simultaneously sheds new light on the poetic affordances of the mester de clerecía while freeing Gonzalo de Berceo’s hagiographies from their traditional association with the mester as a genre. Bower shows how Berceo’s crafting of saints’ lives was far more than the faithful adaptation of Latin sources by the humble cleric portrayed in his own author portraits. Rather, his ‘romanz paladino’ constituted a major development in vernacular poetics that captured orality as well as a highly sophisticated, reflective, and authorizing devotional discourse. In the Doorway of All Worlds reveals Berceo’s poetic artistry in all of its theological, political, and metaphorical complexity.”

Heather Bamford, Associate Professor of Spanish, The George Washington University:
“Bower’s readings of Berceo’s hagiographies reveal Berceo’s poetic vernacular to be a product of its surroundings and his own genius, raising important questions about the notion of context as applied to the Middle Ages and the limitations of didacticism to study the period. In the Doorway of All Worlds unfetters meaning for Berceo’s hagiographies, both the meanings contained in his texts and the meaning of meaning itself.”

Pablo Ancos, Associate Professor of Spanish, University of Wisconsin-Madison:
“In the Doorway of All Worlds combines the first in-depth, comprehensive study of Berceo’s hagiographical production with an innovative theoretical approach and sound scholarship. Robin M. Bower’s book is a brilliant addition to Berceo, mester de clerecía, and medieval Iberian literary and cultural studies.”