Ancrene Wisse: guide for anchoresses (review)

Short notices -s was critical in state-formation. Paradoxically, in his view, the war cult which dominated the state led to the civilianization of domestic politics because bureaucracy needed to handle theresourcesnecessary for war. Sybil M . Jack Department of History University of Sydney White, Hugh, trans., Ancrene Wisse: guide for anchoresses, London, Penguin, 1993; paper; pp. xxix, 234; R.R.P. AUSS12.95 This new translation of Ancrene Wisse offers a readily accessible and reasonably priced text of an important Middle English spiritual treatise. White's translation is smooth and pleasant to the ear, while remaining faithful to both the vocabulary and the syntax of the original. H e isrightto suggest that any stylistic awkwardness that might be felt by a m o d e m reader 'may perhaps disappear if w e think of ourselves as reading thetextout loud, as the early audience ofAncrene Wisse would probably have done' (p. xxiv). The notes, which, as the editor states, rely heavily on the translation by Anne Savage and Nicholas Watson, are helpful, offering both factual information and interpretative comment. Footnotes are restricted to translations of Latin quotations from thetext.Directions for further reading are succint but adequate. The introducation is in two parts: tbefirstdealing generally with the anchoritic ideal and the practical life of the achorite, the second with Ancrene Wisse in particular, covering its provenance, date and style, its influence and popularity in the Middle Ages, and its place in literary history. Although the book will be a welcome addition to the range of material available to students of medieval spirituality, it is also aimed at general modem readers who mayfind,as the introduction suggests, 'then own moral embarrassments clearly reflected and sharply anatomized in thetext...[and] effective help offered for these difficulties' (p. xxiii). Elizabeth Moores Department of English University of Queensland. ...