As apostates from the English Church, Catholic converts in early modern England embodied opposition. Within the seventeenth-century context, I concentrate here on three particular writers who powerfully exemplified this phenomenon: Sir Toby Matthew (1577- 1655), Richard Crashaw (1612-1649), and Serenus Cressy (1605-1674). These specific converts shared a pronounced interest in mystical writings, especially those authored by the female mystics St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582) and Julian of Norwich (1342-1416). The purpose of the present study is, first, to explicate the discursive correlation between the Catholics exile (i.e. his bodily dislocation) and his interest in mystical literature, and, second, to underscore the thematic importance of the body within this discursive relationship. My overarching contention is that the cultivation of mystical literature among these convert- writers supplied unique resources for resistance to Protestant negations of bodily religious practice. Mystics like Teresa and Julian claimed in their writings to have experienced divine revelations through affective sensual states of ecstasy and rapture. Matthew, Crashaw, and Cressy all oriented themselves around the mystics texts, and their tales of ecstatic devotion, in suggestive ways. Of the many characteristics of mystical literature, I argue that what appealed to these writers most was the prospect of envisioning the body as a locus of divine disclosure.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VANDERBILT/oai:VANDERBILTETD:etd-07192012-160045 |
| Date | 23 July 2012 |
| Creators | Woods, Chance Brandon |
| Contributors | Professor Kathryn Schwarz, Professor Leah Marcus, Professor Dana Nelson |
| Publisher | VANDERBILT |
| Source Sets | Vanderbilt University Theses |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.vanderbilt.edu/available/etd-07192012-160045/ |
| Rights | restrictsix, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to Vanderbilt University or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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