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Meditations on the Life of Christ: The Short Italian Text (William and Katherine Devers Series in Dante and Medieval Italian Literature)
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About Meditations On The Life Of Christ: The Short
Product Description The Meditations on the Life of Christ was the most popular and influential devotional work of the later Middle Ages. With its lively dialogue and narrative realism, its poignant and moving depictions of the Nativity and Passion, and its direct appeals to the reader to feel love and compassion, the Meditations had a major impact on devotional practices, religious art, meditative literature, vernacular drama, and the cultivation of affective experience. This volume is a critical edition, with English translation and commentary, of a hitherto-unpublished Italian text that McNamer argues is likely to be the original version of this influential masterpiece. Livelier and far more compact than the Latin text, the Italian “short text” possesses a stylistic and textual integrity that appears to testify to its primacy among early versions of the Meditations. The evidence also suggests that it was composed by a woman, a Poor Clare from Pisa―an author whose work McNamer contends was obscured by the anonymous Franciscan friar who subsequently altered and expanded the text. In bringing to light this unique Italian version and building a case for its origins and importance, this book will encourage a fresh look at the Meditations and serve as a foundation for further scholarship and debate concerning some of the most compelling subjects in Italian and European literary and cultural history, including the role of women in the invention of new genres and spiritual practices, the early development of Italian prose narrative, the rise of vernacular theology, and the history of emotion. McNamer’s volume will be of significant interest to medievalists, especially those who study medieval women, devotional literature, manuscript studies, and textual criticism. The linguistic analysis expands that audience to include those of a philological bent. Review “In addition to the critical edition, the volume includes a translation into English, contextual annotations to the text, a linguistic analysis of the manuscript by Pär Larson of the Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, and a substantial introduction. Overall, this is a substantial and noteworthy contribution to the scholarship on the Meditations on the Life of Christ and on medieval devotional literature.” (Zygmunt G. Baranski, University of Notre Dame) "But if McNamer’s claims are sustained by further research, she will have restored a classic to early fourteenth-century devotional literature. Her work is a groundbreaking contribution to vernacular devotional writing in Italian, and will both stir and shape debate on the MVC for years to come." ( Renaissance Quarterly) “With the text’s publication being anticipated in some of McNamer’s earlier essays, this edition builds on solid grounds: methodologically sound scholarship, long study of the text in this manuscript version, and accurate contextualization in medieval religious writings and devotional practices.” (Michelangelo Zaccarello, University of Verona) "Much is at stake here, and it will take time for Italianists and Franciscan scholars to give these issues the thorough vetting they deserve. In the meantime, McNamer’s compelling arguments have already changed our understanding of the MVC and its reception." ( Catholic Historical Review) “The book presents an edition and facing-page translation of the Canonici text, prefaced by a study addressing the textual history of the MVC, its authorship, date and place of composition, and the manuscript itself. . . . McNamer’s compelling arguments have already changed our understanding of the MVC and its reception.” ( The Catholic Historical Review) "In this ground-breaking edition and study Sarah McNamer makes a very persuasive argument for the primacy of this short Italian text of the Meditations on the Life of Christ among the many longer and later versions, both Italian and Latin. She situates the narrative within the highly affective religious, literary, and artistic tradit
