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Late Medieval Female Subject Consciousness: Italian and English Mystics brings together disparate feminist theoretical approaches to explore the formation of medieval female subject consciousness in writings by female mystics including Angela of Foligno, Catherine of Siena, and Margery Kempe, as well as secular writings of Christine de Pizan, and powerful female characters of Giovanni Boccaccio and Geoffrey Chaucer. The rise of what Amsel calls medieval female subject consciousness shows that increased self-awareness and sense of self relates to how the authorship of texts reconstructs traditional female roles, particularly in Italian and English. These writing women challenged prevailing norms as they forged literal and figurative spaces to self-actualize through writing, even if the act of writing was performed by male amanuenses. This book explores how Boccaccio and Chaucer serve as witnesses by creating female characters who reflect changes in women s writing in late medieval society in Italy and England.
List of contents
1. Introduction.- 2. Defining Medieval Female Subject Consciousness.- 3. Women s Writing as a Form of Work.- 4. Writing the Body in Medieval Texts.- 5. Witnessing Medieval Female Subject Consciousness in Works of Giovanni Boccaccio and Geoffrey Chaucer.- 6. Conclusion.
About the author
Stephanie Amsel
is Director of the Writing and Reasoning Program in the English Department Southern Methodist University, USA, where she teaches writing and medieval literature. Amsel is the Chaucer bibliographer for the New Chaucer Society and produces a yearly Chaucer bibliography report in
Studies in the Age of Chaucer
. Her other works include
Annotated Chaucer Bibliography: 1997-2010
, with Mark Allen (Manchester University Press) and
African Dreams and Other Matters
(Finishing Line Press). She is a poet and has received awards for her poetry and short fiction; her poems have appeared in
Fog City Review
,
Sagebrush Review
,
The Quiet Born from Talk: A Festschrift for Wendy Barker
, and
Ilya’s Honey
.
Summary
Late Medieval Female Subject Consciousness: Italian and English Mystics
brings together disparate feminist theoretical approaches to explore the formation of medieval female subject consciousness in writings by female mystics including Angela of Foligno, Catherine of Siena, and Margery Kempe, as well as secular writings of Christine de Pizan, and powerful female characters of Giovanni Boccaccio and Geoffrey Chaucer. The rise of what Amsel calls “medieval female subject consciousness” shows that increased self-awareness and sense of self relates to how the authorship of texts reconstructs traditional female roles, particularly in Italian and English. These writing women challenged prevailing norms as they forged literal and figurative spaces to self-actualize through writing, even if the act of writing was performed by male amanuenses. This book explores how Boccaccio and Chaucer serve as witnesses by creating female characters who reflect changes in women’s writing in late medieval society in Italy and England.
