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Mysticism and Autobiography in "The Book of Margery Kempe

Explore the mystical experiences and autobiographical elements in "The Book of Margery Kempe," analyzing themes like mysticism, hagiography, and affective piety. Delve into Kempe's defiance of categories and reactions to her mystical visions and personal experiences. Discover the intersection of autobiography, mysticism, and spirituality in Kempe's narrative.

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Mysticism and Autobiography in "The Book of Margery Kempe

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  1. Looking ahead • Chaucer challenge • Website: FQ materials

  2. The Book of Margery Kempe • Important Terms • Litteratus—amanuensis • Mysticism • Imitatio Christi

  3. Mysticism • “an immediate knowledge of God attained in this present life through personal religious experience. It is primarily a state of prayer, and as such admits of various degrees from short and rare divine ‘touches’ to a practically permanent union with God” • Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church

  4. Book of Margery Kempe • Genre • Autobiography • Hagiography • Spiritual autobiography • Can we consider this autohagiography?

  5. Kempe • Defying Categories • Options for women • Kempe’s marriage and secular life • Life with her husband – youth and age • Book 1.11 (page 426, 9th ed) • Book 1.76 (page 435, 9th ed)

  6. Kempe • Mystical experiences • 1.1 (page 425 9th ed) • 1.79 (page 436, 9th ed) • Mysticism and eroticism

  7. Pilgrimage • Jerusalem, heavenly and earthly • 1.28 (page 429, 9th ed) • Bodily eye/spiritual eye • Affective piety • Changes in representations of Christ

  8. Early medieval

  9. Kempe’s reaction to a Pietà • Weeping—Affective piety • Book 1.28 (page 429 9th ed) • The Compassion of Mary 1.79 (p. 436 9th ed)

  10. Vision of the Passion • Meditations on the Life of Christ • Kempe comforts the Virgin Mary • 1.79 (page 436, 9th ed) • Visions of torture • Connections to Anti-Semitism

  11. York Play • Context in medieval drama • Mystery cycles • Passion plays • Corpus Christi plays • Communal forms, connections to liturgy

  12. York Play • Urban form • Community based • Chester, York, N-Town, Towneley

  13. Medieval Drama • Non-professional • Cross-dressing • Early Records (REED) • Pageant Wagons • Feast of Corpus Christi

  14. The York Play • Crucifixion is one part of a sequence describing suffering • The banality of evil l. 229 ff. • The role of the spectator • L. 253

  15. York Play • Anachronism • Mahound (line 61)

  16. Controversy over Passion Plays

  17. Two linguistic and literary historical periods Old English—Anglo-Saxon Middle English Medieval Section Overview

  18. Beowulf • Nature of the hero • Structure of the poem • Relation to issues of gender

  19. Canterbury Tales • Estates Satire • Miller’s Tale—Fabliau—Quitting • Wife of Bath—Anti-feminist Satire • Pardoner— • Spiritual and physical ambiguity

  20. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight • Text Structured through parallels • The façade of courtly culture • Testing of Knightly Identity

  21. Kempe • Auto-hagiography Affective piety

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