In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

REVIEWS the glosses and rubrics. To Gillmeister, the final disposition of CTis that of a pilgrims' anthology of allegorical stories promoting the heavenlyJerusa­ lem (p. 142), with The Parson's Tale its apotheosis. Some readers may favor, on the other hand, such a position as Charles Owen's, that the theological thrust of CT, originally framed by Melibee andParsT, waned as Chaucer grew more and more involved in the personalities of the pilgrims and the interactions of their tales. Perhaps it is time to reopen Manly and Rickert's belief (2.472) and argue that bothParsTand theRetraction"have no legitimate claim to a place in the CT." Chaucer's Conversion, reproduced from typescript, is a masterpiece of accuracy;I have not found a single misprint.IfI personally find it too filled with newefangelness, neverthelessI can admire its style and erudition and its mine of valuable references. ROSSELL HOPE ROBBINS Research Center for Medieval Studies, Saugerties, New York MARION GLASSCOE, ed. The Medieval Mystical Tradition in England: Papers Read at Dartington Hall, July, 1984. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell & Brewer, 1984. Pp. 191. £15. The nine essays in this volume derive from the proceedings of theInterna­ tional Exeter Symposium, whose aim is to cultivate an interdisciplinary body of scholarship through open exchange among students of the medi­ eval mystics. Like its predecessors (published in 1980 and 1982) the collection reflects an intellectual vitality that characterizes the eclectic approach distinguishing mystic studies in recent years. Although a few of the essays are broad enough in scope to be of interest to readers with a cursory knowledge of English devotional and mystical texts, The Medieval Mystical Tradition in England will appeal primarily to specialists who can shift comfortably between textual and literary studies. For these, this volume presents provocative discussions, such as Franz Wohrer's "Ap­ proach to the Mystographical Treatises of the Cloud-Author Through Carl Albrecht's Psychology of Mystical Consciousness." The authors offer a wide variety of means to probe fruitfully mystical experience, and their scholarship collectively emphasizes the importance of locating mystical texts in cultural, historical, psychological, and literary 191 STUDIES IN THE AGE OF CHAUCER contexts. The traditional perspective of the mystic as an isolated religious phenomenon has compelled past readers to survey these highly evocative writings cautiously from either a skeptical or a respectful distance. In contrast, this series of essays successfully expounds the medieval con­ templative and devotional traditions from which the Englishmystics drew and adapted their personal and didactic forms of religious expression. In her briefforeword, editor Marion Glasscoe states that the papers form "significant groupings" and generate "coherent patterns" as an organizing principle (p. 7). She neatly juxtaposes Susan Dickman's discussion of Margery Kempe's innovative role in a Continental tradition ofpious wives with David Wallace's intriguing study ofthe cultural and political milieus that fostered similarities in the piety of Kempe and Catherine of Sienna. Dickman explores the emergence of The Book ofMargery Kempe from a "general breakdown ofold institutional forms...and the establishment of personal experience in their place," focusing on Margery's isolation from pious women as the key factor contributing to the singularity of her religious vocation (p. 157). Wallace presents both women's spiritual ex­ pression as stemming from popular literary traditions ofaffective devotion exemplified in works like the Meditationes vitae Christi. Catherine's strong familial bonds and exposure to homely devotions encouraged her, like Kempe, to find "materials for religious observance in the forms ofdomestic life" (p. 185). Together the essays provide complementary and richly informed perspectives of late-medieval feminine spirituality. Of equal interest are essays by Ritamary Bradley and A. P. Baldwin surveying the development of two widely prevalent spiritual metaphors that offered both contemplatives and beginners in spiritual instruction a means of structuring progress toward pefection: the speculum image and the tripartite reformation of the soul. Bradley's essay emphasizes the interpretative nature of mystical language and eloquently illustrates how readers must perceive such metaphors as potent, flexible vehicles ofinterior growth rather than as static emblems. In turn, Baldwin's study of the tripartite reformation ofthe soul as a structural principle in The Pearland Piers Plowman raises familiar critical questions about the success ofrigidly pressing either...

pdf

Share