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Women in No Man's Land: English recluses and the development of vernacular literature in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries

Women in No Man's Land: English recluses and the development of vernacular literature in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries
Women in No Man's Land: English recluses and the development of vernacular literature in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries
'Throughout the Middle Ages, it was more usual for vernacular works to be listened to than read, and we cannot always be sure that either lay patrons or nuns read the works that were written for them rather than hearing them read aloud by someone else; but recluses by definition were solitary readers, and this is sometimes reflected in the works that were provided for their use. In the texts produced for recluses in [the twelfth and thirteenth centuries], we see not only the recording in writing of works originally intended for oral delivery, but the development of something still closer to our modern concept of "literature", vernacular works composed with readers rather than hearers in mind.'
0521576202
17
86-103
Cambridge University Press
Millett, Bella
99523544-2312-4078-97f1-c6d4eb8edd39
Meale, Carol M.
Millett, Bella
99523544-2312-4078-97f1-c6d4eb8edd39
Meale, Carol M.

Millett, Bella (1997) Women in No Man's Land: English recluses and the development of vernacular literature in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. In, Meale, Carol M. (ed.) Women and Literature in Britain, 1150-1500 [2nd edition]. (Cambridge Studies in Medieval Literature, 17) Cambridge, UK. Cambridge University Press, pp. 86-103.

Record type: Book Section

Abstract

'Throughout the Middle Ages, it was more usual for vernacular works to be listened to than read, and we cannot always be sure that either lay patrons or nuns read the works that were written for them rather than hearing them read aloud by someone else; but recluses by definition were solitary readers, and this is sometimes reflected in the works that were provided for their use. In the texts produced for recluses in [the twelfth and thirteenth centuries], we see not only the recording in writing of works originally intended for oral delivery, but the development of something still closer to our modern concept of "literature", vernacular works composed with readers rather than hearers in mind.'

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Published date: 28 January 1997

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 67600
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/67600
ISBN: 0521576202
PURE UUID: 74778924-b318-40b3-882d-99d5f35cd82a

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Date deposited: 28 Aug 2009
Last modified: 10 Dec 2021 16:17

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Contributors

Author: Bella Millett
Editor: Carol M. Meale

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