Return to the index of "Other Women's Voices."
Updated 06-28-09
Julian of Norwich (c.1342-aft.1416)
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"BUT ALL WILL BE WELL, AND EVERY KIND OF THING WILL BE WELL."
========================================================================In 1373, when she was 30 years old, an Englishwoman had a visionary experience during a serious illness. After she had thought about it --- perhaps soon after the experience, perhaps as much as fifteen years later --- she wrote a relatively brief account of the visions and what they meant to her. But in 1393, she was still meditating on her experience and perhaps had begun to write a longer, more theologically-centered analysis. By 1394 she had become an anchorite, living in a cell attached to the parish church of St. Julian in Norwich (which may be the reason for the name we know her by); she was visited there by Margery Kempe in about 1413, and she was still living there in 1416.
This is all we know of Julian's life. Some scholars believe that she was at one time a member of a religious community; others think not. Some think that she wrote out her book (which modern editors call Showings or Revelations of Divine Love); others believe that the work was dictated.
We do know from Showings that she was well-read in scripture and in spiritual works, both older and contemporary, so somewhere she had access to a good library. Her writing style is not the least bit naive: she handles complex thoughts clearly and is rhetorically effective. The rhetoric is perhaps easier to see in the first, shorter text; the complexity in the later, longer text.
Julian's emphasis on God's love and desire for human salvation becomes more significant when one thinks of the period in which she wrote. The Black Death came not only in 1349; it came again and again for over a century. The Church on whose faith Julian relied was in schism, with two or more popes claiming authority, from 1378 to 1417. Monastic writers and parish priests were teaching that all this was a punishment from an angry God. It is as if Julian saw the need to offer an antidote to the pervasive fear of sin and death and damnation; in both of her texts, she did.
On this page you'll find:
Links to helpful sites online.
Excerpts from a translation in print.
Information about:
Other translations
Editions
Secondary sources========================================================================
Online 1. A link to the text of a modern-spelling version of the short text, from a c.1911 edition, Comfortable Words for Christ's Lovers: Being the Visions and Voices Vouchsafed to Lady Julian, Recluse at Norwich in 1373; the editor, Dundas Harford, "has tried to give the original wording, wherever it would not be positively misleading to the modern reader" and has provided a brief glossary at the end. You can also download the work as a PDF file.
2. Modern-spelling versions of the long text:
(a) Links to the three parts of Julia Bolton Holloway's 2003 Showing of Love, a composite text based on four extant manuscripts; you can also link to a preface by Holloway that discusses Julian's life and the work's manuscript history (for information on the print version, see below, under "In print").
(b) Links to the individual chapters of Grace Warrick's 1901 Revelations of Divine Love; there are some notes but the introduction from the print version is not given.
(c) A link to the text (or to a PDF file) of a 1920 edition of XVI revelations of divine love shewed to Mother Juliana of Norwich 1373, Serenus Cressy's 1670 first publication of the long text; it is introduced by a preface by George Tyrrell, and Cressy's dedicatory letter and address "to the reader."3. From other translators (all from the long text; for excerpts from the short text, see "In print"):
(a) Chapters 2, 3, and 4, translated by Clifton Wolters, on the gifts Julian had asked from God, on her illness, and on the visionary experience that accompanied it.
(b) Use your browser's search function to go to "Julian" for an translation by M.L. del Mastro of Ch. 5's comparison of the world to a hazelnut.
(c) Go to "Julian" for passages from Ch. 27 and 32, on God's assurance that "all shall be well"; the translation is by Elizabeth Spearing.
(d) At #11 in a collection, the opening of Ch. 74, translated by Wolters, on the four forms of dread.
(e) Go to "Julian" for, after passages from Chs. 27 and 59, another version of part of Ch. 86, "Love was His meaning," translated by Spearing.
(f) In two parts, the whole of Ch. 86 (the end of the book), here translated by John-Julian Swanson: "For the sake of love let us all pray," and "From the time that it was shown, I desired frequently to know...."
(g) Links to brief excerpts, by various translators: The link to "Selections" describes Julian's sixteen "showings"; the link to "God as mother" gives passages from Ch. 54, 58, and 60; the link to "Sin" quotes from Ch. 38, 48, and 61. On the main page is a 2000 essay by Elizabeth G. Melillo.4. Links to an introduction and to the long text, in the original Middle English, edited by Georgia Ronan Crampton (1994). Crampton's introduction covers what is known and conjectured about Julian and about the different manuscripts; you can also link to a detailed and frequently annotated bibliography. The text uses the modern alphabet and expands abbreviations, and it is accompanied by notes that translate unfamiliar words. (Relevant passages from the short text, available in the print version, are not given here.)
5. About two-thirds of the way down the page, Margery Kempe's account of her visit to Julian in about 1413.
6. Essays, etc.:
(a) "Julian's Audacious Reticence: Perichoresis and the Showings" (2006), by Daniel Pinti, takes the Christian theological term "perichoresis," used to describe the relationship among the persons of the Trinity, and applies it to the relationship among Julian, her text, and her readers.
(b) "Order, Freedom, and 'Kindness': Julian of Norwich on the Edge of Modernity" (2003), by Frederick Christian Bauerschmidt, sees Julian as a transitional figure between medieval "order" and modern "freedom" and as presenting to the reader "the kindness of God."
(c) An earlier article by Bauerschmidt, "Will Everything Really be OK?: The Spirituality of Julian of Norwich" (1998), which questions the tendency of some to see Julian's God as "the Jesus of feel-good religiosity."
(d) "Reconciling the Places Where Memory Resides" (2003), by Bradley Peters, discusses Julian's conception of a "feminine Christ" and its effect on a modern woman.
(e) Richard J. Vincent's 2002 essay, "'All Will Be Well': An Analysis of Julian of Norwich's Showings," begins with a brief but clear presentation of the first 16 chapters of the short text.
(f) "'Sin will be no shame': Julian of Norwich's theology of sin" (2000), by Michael Gore, discusses Julian's view that evil can be overcome; translated passages are from Colledge and Walsh.
(g) Thomas L. Long's "Julian of Norwich: Essentialist and Feminist?" (1998) reviews studies of Julian in the light of classical and medieval concepts of women.
(h) "Julian of Norwich and the Enigma of Divine Revelation" (1992), by John Noffsinger, discusses Julian's understanding of the relationship between the human self and God, especially with reference to suffering and sin; Noffsinger quotes extensively from the translation of Colledge and Walsh.
(i) Go to "Julian" for a brief 2007 conference abstract by Jennifer Herman, "Shewing, Sight, and Understanding: Gender Performance and a Feminized Christian Literacy in Julian of Norwich's Revelation of Love"
(j) "The Boke of Margery Kempe and the Book of Showings of Julian of Norwich" is not an essay but rather a thought-provoking set of notes (with relevant links) written by Arnie Sanders for his students. From the same site, Sanders' summary, "The Short Text of the Showings," and his article, "Some Ways to Read Julian of Norwich."7. Reviews (for more on the first two books, see under "In print"; for information on the other books' treatment of Julian, see "Secondary sources"):
(a) Amy Frykholm on John-Julian Swanson's 2009 translation, Love's Trinity: A Companion to Julian of Norwich: Long Text with a Commentary.
(b) Michael Calabrese on Nicholas Watson's and Jacqueline Jenkins' 2006 edition, The Writings of Julian of Norwich: A Vision Showed to a Devout Woman and a Revelation of Love (c) Martin Warner on the 2008 essay collection, A Companion to Julian of Norwich.
(d) Anna Campbell on Liz Herbert McAvoy's 2004 study, Authority and the Female Body in the Writings of Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe.
(e) Diane M. Caplin on Bauerschmidt's 1999 study, Julian of Norwich and the Mystical Body Politic of Christ; elsewhere, another review, this by Denise N. Baker.
(f) Marion Glasscoe on the1998 collection, Julian of Norwich: A Book of Essays (accompanied by a review of a 1999 study of Julian).
(g) Esther de Waal on the 2005 collection, Approaching Medieval English Anchoritic and Mystical Texts.
(h) Claire Fanger on Barbara Newman's 2003 study, God and the Goddesses: Vision, Poetry, and Belief in the Middle Ages.
(i) Mary C. Erler on the 2003 collection, The Cambridge Companion to Medieval Women's Writing.
(j) Anna Dronzek on Prudence Allen's 2002 second volume of The Concept of Woman series, The Early Humanist Reformation, 1250-1500; and another review, by Patricia Z. Beckman.
(k) Bauerschmidt on the 1996 collection, The Powers of the Holy: Religion, Politics, and Gender in Late Medieval English Culture; and another review, by Penny J. Cole; and still another, by Robert Easting.8. Julia Bolton Holloway's site "Julian of Norwich, Her Showing of Love and Its Contexts," provides links to other excerpts and articles on Julian (including illustrations from the "Amherst Manuscript" of the short text). At the same site, a bibliography of editions, translations, and studies through 2006.
9. At Anniina Jokinen's "Luminarium" site, links to some of the above, and to other quotations from and articles on Julian.
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Translations of both the short and long texts
[Edmund Colledge and James Walsh have translated their edition of A Book of Showings; like their edition of the original (see below under "Editions"), this contains both the short and the long text. The book has a useful introduction and notes, as well as a topical index to the texts:]
Showings / Julian of Norwich; translated from the critical text, with an introd., by Edmund Colledge and James Walsh; pref. by Jean Leclercq (The Classics of Western spirituality). NY: Paulist Press, 1978 (369p.)
LC#: BV4831 .J8 1978; ISBN: 080910234X, 0809120917
Includes indexes. Bibliography: p. 345-347.------------------------------------------------------------------------
"For in mankind which will be saved is comprehended all."
------------------------------------------------------------------------[Because the long text is available nany places online, all but the last excerpt given here are from the short text; paragraph breaks and quotation marks for dialogue have been added. First, on Julian's reason for writing:]
Everything that I say about myself I mean to apply to all my fellow Christians, for I am taught that this is what our Lord intends in this spiritual revelation. And therefore I pray you all for God's sake, and I counsel you for your own profit, that you disregard the wretched worm, the sinful creature to whom it was shown, and that mightily, wisely, lovingly and meekly you contemplate God, who out of his courteous love and his endless goodness was willing to show this vision generally, to the comfort of us all.And you who hear and see this vision and this teaching, which is from Jesus Christ for the edification of your souls, it is God's will and my wish that you accept it with as much joy and delight as if Jesus had shown it to you, as he did to me.
I am not good because of the revelation, but only if I love God better, and so can and so should every man do who sees it and hears it with good will and proper intention. And so it is my desire that it should be to every man the same profit that I asked for myself, and was moved to in the first moment when I saw it; for it is common and general, just as we are all one; and I am sure that I saw it for the profit of many others.
For truly it was not revealed to me because God loves me better than the humblest soul who is in a state of grace. For I an sure that there are many who never had revelations or visions, but only the common teaching of Holy Church, who love God better than I.
If I pay special attention to myself, I am nothing at all; but in general I am in the unity of love with all my fellow Christians. For it is in this unity of love that the life consists of all men who will be saved. For God is everything that is good, and God has made everything that is made, and God loves everything that he has made, and if any man or woman withdraws his love from any of his fellow Christians, he does not love at all, because he has not love for all. For in mankind which will be saved is comprehended all, that is, all that is made and the maker of all; for God is in man, and so in man is all.... [ch.6, pp.133-34]
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"Ought I therefore to believe that I should not tell you...?"
------------------------------------------------------------------------[On her position as a woman:]
But God forbid that you should say or assume that I am a teacher, for that is not and never was my intention: for I am a woman, ignorant, weak and frail. But I know very well that what I am saying I have received by the revelation of him who is the sovereign teacher. But it is truly love which moves me to tell it to you, for I want God to be known and my fellow Christians to prosper, as I hope to prosper myself, by hating sin more and loving God more.
But because I am a woman, ought I therefore to believe that I should not tell you of the goodness of God, when I saw at that same time that it is his will that it be known? Then you will soon forget me who am a wretch, and do this, so that I am no hindrance to you, and you will contemplate Jesus, who is every man's teacher.... [ch. 6, p.135]
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"I often wondered why sin was not prevented."
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[Before her visionary experience, Julian had thought about the question that has always plagued theologians: the reason for the existence of suffering:]And after this our Lord brought to my mind the longing that I had for him before; and I saw that nothing hindered me but sin, and I saw that this is true of us all in general, and it seemed to me that if there had been no sin, we should all have been pure and as like our Lord as he created us.
And so in my folly before this time I often wondered why, through the great and prescient wisdom of God, sin was not prevented; for it seemed to me that then all would have been well. The impulse to think this was greatly to be shunned; and I mourned and sorrowed on this account, unreasonably, lacking discretion, filled with pride. Nonetheless in this vision Jesus informed me about everything needful to me....
He answered with these words, and said: "Sin is necessary." In the word "sin," our Lord brought generally to my mind all that which is not good: the shameful contempt and the complete denial of himself which he endured for us in this life and in his death, and all the pains and passions, spiritual and bodily, of all his creatures. For we are all in part denied, and we ought to be denied, following our master Jesus until we are fully purged, that is to say until we have completely denied our own mortal flesh and all our inward affections which are not good.
And the beholding of this, with all the pains that ever were or ever will be... was shown to me in an instant, and quickly turned into consolation. For our good Lord would not have the soul frightened by this ugly sight. But I did not see sin, for I believe that it has no kind of substance, no share in being, nor can it be recognized except by the pains which it causes.
And it seemed to me that this pain is something for a time, for it purges us and makes us know ourselves and ask for mercy; for the Passion of our Lord is comfort to us against all this, and that is his blessed will for all who will be saved. He comforts readily and sweetly with his words, and says: "But all will be well, and every kind of thing will be well."
These words were revealed very tenderly, showing no kind of blame to me or to anyone who will be saved. So it would be most unkind of me to blame God or marvel at him on account of my sins, since he does not blame me for sin.... [ch.13, pp.147-149:]
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"I wished... for some plainer explanation...."
-------------------------------------------------------[But Julian was not yet ready to be sure:]
But I shall study upon this, contemplating it generally, heavily and mournfully, saying in intention to our Lord with very great fear: "Ah, good Lord, how could all things be well, because of the great harm which has come through sin to your creatures?" And I wished, so far as I dared, for some plainer explanation through which my mind might be at ease about this matter....
He gave me understanding of two portions. One portion is our saviour and our salvation. This blessed portion is open and clear and fair and bright and plentiful, for all men who are or will be of good will are comprehended in this portion....
The other portion is closed to us and hidden, that is to say all that is additional to our salvation. For this is our Lord's privy counsel, and it is fitting to God's royal dominion to keep his privy counsel in peace, and it is fitting to his subjects out of obedience and respect not to wish to know his counsel. [ch.14. pp.149-50]
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"You will not be overcome."
------------------------------------[When the crisis of Julian's illness passed and she knew that she would live, she began to wonder if her visions were mere "ravings":]
...[O]ur Lord very humbly revealed words to me,... "Know it well, it was no hallucination which you saw today, but accept and believe it and hold firmly to it, and you will not be overcome."...
And these words: "You will not be overcome," were said very insistently and strongly, for certainty and strength against every tribulation which may come. He did not say: "You will not be assailed, you will not be be laboured, you will not be disquieted," but he said: "You will not be overcome." God wants us to pay attention to his words, and always to be strong in our certainty, in well-being and in woe, for he loves us and delights in us, and so he wishes us to love him and delight in him and trust greatly in him, and all will be well. [ch. 22, p. 165]
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"Who reveals it to you? Love. What did he reveal to you? Love."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------[From the long text's last chapter:]
This book is begun by God's gift and his grace, but it is not yet performed, as I see it....
And from the time that it was revealed, I desired many times to know in what was our Lord's meaning. And fifteen years after and more, I was answered in spiritual understanding, and it was said: "What, do you wish to know your Lord's meaning in this thing? Know it well, love was his meaning. Who reveals it to you? Love. What did he reveal to you? Love. Why does he reveal it to you? For love. Remain in this, and you will know more of the same. But you will never know different, without end."
So I was taught that love is our Lord's meaning. And I saw very certainly in this and in everything that before God made us he loved us, which love has never abated and never will be. And in this love he has done all his works, and in this love he has made all things profitable to us, and in this love our life is everlasting. In our creation we had beginning, but the love in which he created us was in him from without beginning. In this love we have our beginning, and all this shall we see in God without end. [ch. 86, p. 342-43]
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[Elisabeth Dutton's appears to be the most recent "modernization" of both the short and long texts. Of special interest is Dutton's consideration, in the introductions and notes, of Julian's diction---her choice, use, and repetition of various words; the effect is to emphasize Julian's own voice:]
A revelation of love / Julian of Norwich; introduced, edited, and modernized by Elisabeth Dutton (The Sacred Literature Trust series). Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., c2008. (175 p.)
LC#: BV4831.J83 .R38 2008; ISBN: 9780742562806; 9780742562813
Includes bibliographical references (p. [174]-175)
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[Another translation of both the short and long texts has been made by Elizabeth Spearing. The introduction by A.C. Spearing concentrates on the long text, with a discussion of Julian's treatment of Christ as mother and of Chapter 51. The notes are brief but useful; the appendix contains samples of the Middle English originals and Margery Kempe's account of her meeting with Julian. (See the book's table of contents online.):]Julian of Norwich. Revelations of divine love (short text and long text) / translated by Elizabeth Spearing; with introduction and notes by A.C. Spearing. Harmondsworth, Eng.: Penguin Books, c1998. (xlii, 192 p. ; 20 cm)
LC#: BV4382.2 .J8513 1998; ISBN: 0140446737
Includes bibliographical references (p. xxxiv-xxxvi)========================================================================
Translation of the short text alone
[Frances Beer has translated the short text (and chapters 58-63 of the long text). Her introduction describes Julian's literary sources, and an interpretive essay discusses Julian's egalitarianism. The notes are useful and the bibliography detailed. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
Revelations of divine love, translated from British Library Additional MS 37790; The motherhood of God: an excerpt, translated from British Library MS Sloane 2477 / with introduction, interpretive essay, and bibliography [by] Frances Beer (Library of medieval women, 1369-9652). Rochester, NY: D.S. Brewer, c1998. (viii, 93 p)
LC#: BV4832.2 .J8513 1998b; ISBN: 0859914534
Includes bibliographical references (p. [80]-89) and index.========================================================================
Translations of the long text alone
[Each chapter of John-Julian Swanson's translation is accompanied by the commentary by Frederick S. Roden, whose focus is on the significance of the work to modern readers. For this reason, there are no separate notes, and no index:]
Love's trinity: a companion to Julian of Norwich: long text with a commentary / commentary by Frederick S. Roden; Showings of Julian of Norwich translated by John-Julian; foreword by John-Julian. Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, c2009. (xii, 336 p.)
LC#: BV4832.3 .J8613 2009; ISBN: 9780814653081
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[Available online, Julia Bolton Holloway's translation is a "composite" (p.xxxi); it uses one of the manuscripts of the mid-1600s, but shows "important" variant readings of three other manuscripts; the translation is based on the 2001 SISMEL edition edited by Anna Maria Reynolds and Holloway. The introduction presents Holloway's conjectures about Julian's life and her book's manuscript history. No notes are provided, and the index is a bit confusing: most (but not all) of the topical references are listed under Julian's name (pp. 129-132):]Showing of love / Julian of Norwich; translated from the British Library Sloane 2499 manuscript (S), collated with the Westminster Cathedral manuscript (W), the Paris, Bibliotheque nationale, Anglais 40 manuscript (P), and the British Library, Additional 37,790, Amherst manuscript (A) by Julia Bolton Holloway. Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, c2003. (xxxiv, 133 p.)
LC#: BV4831 .J8213 2003; ISBN: 0814651690
========================================================================[John Skinner has also made a translation of the long text. The preface, chapter headings and brief notes are of interest; there is a glossary but no index:]
Revelation of love / Julian of Norwich; edited and translated by John Skinner. New York: Doubleday: "Image books," 1997. (xiii, 187 p.)
LC#:BV4831.J83 J85 1997; ISBN: 0385487568.
"The present translation is based upon the acknowledged critical edition of A revelation of love by Dr. Marion Glasscoe (published by Exeter University)"--Pref. Includes bibliographical references========================================================================
[This is an older but still easily available loose translation, by Clifton Wolters, of the long text; there is an introduction but no notes or index:]
Juliana, anchoret. Revelations of divine love. Wolters, Clifton, tr. Baltimore, Penguin books [1966] (213 p.)
LC#: BV4831 .J8 1966a========================================================================
[The print version of Grace Warrack's modern-spelling version of the long text available online. The book includes Warrack's introduction, not given online:]
Revelations of divine love, recorded by Julian, anchoress at Norwich, anno Domini 1373. A version from the ms. in the British Museum, edited by Grace Warrack. 5th ed. London, Methuen [1914] (lxxviii, 208 p. 19 cm.)
LC#: BV4831 .J8 1941========================================================================
Long and short texts
[The latest edition of both texts by Nicholas Watson and Jacqueline Jenkins is valuable even for those who do not feel at ease with the original; the notes given on facing pages of the text are so detailed as to constitute a translation. In addition to giving the short text alone, the editors give it again as a "analytic version": on each page of the long text the relevant passages of the short text are also given, with changes, additions, and omissions indicated. The book's introduction provides a clear evaluation of manuscripts, editions, and translations. The appendix includes the Westminster manuscript and Margery Kempe's description of her visit to Julian. The partially annotated bibliography by Amy Appleford appears complete through 2005. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
Watson, Nicholas and Jenkins, Jacqueline. The writings of Julian of Norwich: A vision showed to a devout woman and a revelation of love (Brepols medieval women series). Pennsylvania State University Press, 2006. (488 p.: 6 ill.)
LC#: BV4832.3 .W75 2006; ISBN: 0271025476
========================================================================[This is the edition of the Middle English text by Colledge & Walsh from which they made their translation (see above). Volume 1 contains a detailed and valuable introduction and the short text, and Volume 2 the long text:]
A book of showings to the anchoress Julian of Norwich / edited by Edmund Colledge and James Walsh (Studies and texts [Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies]; 35). Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies,1978.(2 v.; 26 cm.)
LC#: BV4831 .J8 1978b; ISBN: 0888440359
Short text edited from MS BM additional 37790 [Amherst Ms]; long text edited from MS BN Fonds anglais 40, collated with MSS BM Sloane 2499 and 3705, Westminster Archdiocesan Archives and Upholland Seminary Library, and with the 1670 Serenus Cressy printed Middle English text, modern English introd. and notes. Bibliography: pt. 2, p. 761-773. Appendix, bibliography, glossary, index.========================================================================
Long text alone
[This edition of the long text is Denise N. Baker's; her introduction is useful, her notes and a glossary detailed. The book also includes a half dozen brief excerpts from writers contemporary with or before Julian and seven essays reprinted from original publications between 1980 and 2000. A selected bibliography covers studies through 2003. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
Showings: authoritative text, contexts, criticism / Julian of Norwich; edited by Denise N. Baker (A Norton critical edition). New York: W.W. Norton, c2005. (xxvii, 213 p.)
LC#: BV4832.3 .J86 2005; ISBN: 0393979156
Includes bibliographical references (p. 211-213)========================================================================
[The print version of the Georgia Ronan Crampton edition of the long text that is available online. The book includes appendices containing passages from the short text; these are not online:]The shewings of Julian of Norwich / edited by Georgia Ronan Crampton (Consortium for the Teaching of the Middle Ages / Middle English texts). Kalamazoo, Mich.: Published for TEAMS in Association with the University of Rochester by Medieval Institute Publications, Western Michigan University, 1993. (ix, 218 p.: 26 cm.)
LC#: BV4831 .J8 1993; ISBN: 1879288451
Includes bibliographical references (p. 23-35).
========================================================================[A 1976 edition Marion Glasscoe of the long text. The introduction and notes are useful:]
A revelation of love / [by] Julian of Norwich; edited by Marion Glasscoe (Exeter medieval English texts). [Exeter]: University of Exeter, 1976. (xviii, 111 p.)
LC#: BV4831 .J8 1976; ISBN: 0859890619
Includes index. Bibliography: p. xviii.
========================================================================Westminster Manuscript
[The Westminster Manuscript is a c.1500 collection of spiritual works; it contains material from the long text. This article by Hugh Kempster contains the original Middle English text of Julian's portion of the manuscript:]
Kempster, Hugh, ed. Julian of Norwich: The Westminster text of A Revelation of Love. Mystics Quarterly, 23:4 (December 1997), 177-245.
LC#:BV5077 .G7 F682; ISSN: 07425503========================================================================
Secondary sources
[The sixteen essays in this collection all all of interest (as is Liz Herbert McAvoy's introduction, which reviews the textual history); for the general reader three essays are perhaps of most value, because they deal with the Short Text as well as the Long Text: (1) Barry Windeatt's "Julian's Second Thoughts: The Long Text Tradition" discusses the relationship between the two texts; (2) Elizabeth Robertson's "Julian of Norwich's 'Modernist' Style and the Creation of Audience" looks at the visual imagery used in each text; (3) McAvoy's "'For we be doubel of God's making' : Writing, Gender, and the Body in Julian of Norwich" describes both texts' treatment of women and the feminine. The book's notes and bibliography provide thorough coverage of recent research. (See the book's table of contents online.):]A companion to Julian of Norwich / edited by Liz Herbert McAvoy. Cambridge [England]: D.S. Brewer; Rochester, NY: Boydell & Brewer, 2008. (xi, 249 p : ill.)
LC#: BV5095.J84 C6 2008; ISBN: 9781843841722
Includes bibliographical references (p. [219]-236) and index.
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[McAvoy's 2004 study does not compare Julian with Margery Kempe; instead, three of the book's six chapters are given to each of the two women. For each, Herbert McAvoy discusses what the written text and our knowledge of the period's views reveal about the writer's treatment of motherhood, feminine sexuality, and the public female voice. In the process of presenting her own interpretations, Herbert McAvoy sums up in detail earlier research and critical studies. (See the book's table of contents online.):]Herbert McAvoy, Liz. Authority and the female body in the writings of Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe (Studies in medieval mysticism, 1465-5683; v. 5). Cambridge; Rochester, NY: Boydell Press, 2004. (viii, 276 p)
LC#: PR275.M9 H47 2004; ISBN: 1843840081
Includes bibliographical references (p. 238-261) and index
---------------------[Included in this collection is another essay by McAvoy, "'Be thou, to whom this booke shall come': Julian of Norwich and Her Audience, Past, Present and Future," which deals with the Short Text as well as the Long Text, showing how Julian's thought developed over the years. McAvoy sees Julian's greatest strength as her accessibility to readers on a range of levels. Another worthwhile essay in the book is Marion Glasscoe's "Contexts for Teaching Julian of Norwich," which offers ways of first approaching the complex text; Glasscoe's ideas are valuable for the general reader as well as for the teacher. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
Approaching medieval English anchoritic and mystical texts / edited by Dee Dyas, Valerie Edden, Roger Ellis (Christianity and culture). Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 2005. (xvi, 213 p.: ill.)
LC#: BV5077.G7 A67 2005; ISBN: 1843840499
Includes bibliographical references and index
--------------------[Several useful essays are in this collection; two are perhaps most useful for the general reader: Jay Rudd's "'I wolde for thy loue dye': Julian, Romance Discourse, and the Masculine" looks at the presentation of God as a courtly lover; and Nicolas Watson's "The Trinitarian Hermeneutic in Julian of Norwich's Revelation of Love" discusses the ways Julian interprets her experience in order to make it significant to her reader. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
Julian of Norwich: a book of essays / edited by Sandra J. McEntire (Garland medieval casebooks; vol. 21). New York: Garland Pub., 1998. (xxi, 341 p.)
LC#:BV5095 .J84 J83 1998; ISBN: 0815325290
Includes bibliographical references (p. [321]-338) and index
---------------------[This collection includes a later essay on Julian by Watson, which discusses the short text as well as the long text and illustrates how the later work both developed and differed from the earlier work. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
The Cambridge companion to medieval women's writing / edited by Carolyn Dinshaw and David Wallace (Cambridge companions to literature). Cambridge, U.K.; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003. (xix, 289 p.)
LC#: PN682.W6 C36 2003; ISBN: 052179188X, 0521796385
Includes bibliographical references (p. 267-283) and index
---------------------
[Frederick Christian Bauerschmidt's study is a close reading of the long text which sees Julian's identification of the body of Christ with the human community as asserting a polity that is not the same as the ecclesiastical structure of the Church. Although his focus is theological, Bauerschmidt gives useful background on the political life of Julian's period, and he provides the modern English as well as the original of all quoted passages. An appendix, "Who was Julian of Norwich?" sums up earlier interpretations of Julian and her texts. (See the book's table of contents online.):]Bauerschmidt, Frederick Christian. Julian of Norwich and the mystical body politic of Christ (Studies in spirituality and theology 59; 5) . Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, c1999. (xii, 290 p.)
LC#: BV5095.J84 B38 1999; ISBN: 026801194X
Includes bibliographical references (p. 267-281) and index
----------------------[In Barbara Newman's study, one chapter, "Sapientia: The Goddess Incarnate," includes a section (pp.222-234) which discusses Chapters 41-63 of the long text, in which Julian describes the role of Jesus as a mother. The whole chapter is useful in illustrating how Julian's treatment compares with that of other writers who also made use of the biblical figure of Wisdom. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
Newman, Barbara. God and the goddesses: vision, poetry, and belief in the Middle Ages (The Middle Ages series). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, c2003. (xiii, 446 p.: ill.)
LC#: PN688.G65 N49 2003; ISBN: 0812236912
Includes bibliographical references (p. [409]-436) and index
----------------------[This second volume of Prudence Allen's study on the philosophy of gender includes a useful section (pp. 398-437) on Julian's presentation of philosophical thought through analogy. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
Allen, Prudence. The concept of woman. Volume 2, The early humanist reformation, 1250-1500. Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans Pub., c2002. (xxiv, 1161 p.: ill.)
LC#: BD450 .A4725 2002; ISBN: 0802847358
Includes bibliographical references (p. 1091-1129) and index
--------------------[This collection includes a substantial essay by Lynn Staley, "Julian of Norwich and the late Fourteenth-Century Crisis of Authority," which discusses the difference between the short and the long text. Staley reviews the earlier literature on Julian, and her bibliographic notes are detailed. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
The Powers of the Holy: religion, politics, and gender in late medieval English culture / David Aers and Lynn Staley. University Park, Pa.: Pennsylvania State University Press, c1996. (310 p.)
LC#: BR750 .A35 1996; ISBN: 0271015411, 027101542X
Includes bibliographical references (p. [273]-301) and index
----------------------[Denise N. Baker's study offers a thorough analysis of the development from the short to the long text. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
Baker, Denise Nowakowski. Julian of Norwich's Showings: from vision to book. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, c1994. (xi, 215 p.: ill.)
LC#: BV4831.J83 B34 1994; ISBN: 0691036314
Includes bibliographical references (p. 199-212) and index
----------------------[In his study Edward Peter Nolan extensively analyzes Julian's style. He also translates and explicates Julian's section of the Westminster Manuscript:]
Nolan, Edward Peter. Cry out and write: a feminine poetics of revelation. New York: Continuum, c1994. (215 p.)
LC#: PA8030.C47 N65 1994; ISBN: 082640684X
Includes bibliographical references (p. [209]-212) and index
----------------------[Steven Fanning's essay in this collection, "Mitigations of the Fear of Hell and Purgatory in the Later Middle Ages: Julian of Norwich and Catherine of Genoa," includes a discussion of Julian's attitude toward "universal salvation." Fanning shows how Julian's views differ from those of contemporary theologians. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
Fear and its representations in the Middle Ages and Renaissance / edited by Anne Scott & Cynthia Kosso (Arizona studies in the middle ages and the renaissance; v. 6). Turnhout: Brepols; [Cheltenham: European Schoolbooks] (distributor), c2002. (xxxvii, 350 p.: ill.)
LC#: PN56.F39 F4 2002; ISBN: 2503512070
Includes bibliographical references and index
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