I’m writing about these books together because they are
paired in my mind and have much in common. “Margery Kempe and Julian of Norwich
may have been illiterate, but these two medieval Christian mystics
are a strikingly early example of literary female friendship. With the help of
scribes, both women wrote books which play crucial parts in literary history.
Julian of Norwich’s Revelations
of Divine Love is the earliest surviving book by a
woman written in English, and Margery Kempe’s untitled manuscript (known today
simply as The Book of
Margery Kempe)
is considered the first English autobiography. Fascinatingly, Kempe chronicles
a meeting between the two – she stopped by in Norwich to see ‘Dame Jelyan’, and
they spent ‘many days’ together in conversation. Kempe and Julian shared some
basic characteristics: both were female English writers; both Christian mystics
who believed that they received visions directly from God; both from roughly
the same late medieval epoch – they even both came to their spiritual
awakenings following periods of serious illness. They were, however, quite
different. Kempe was a wife and woman about town, mother to at
least fourteen children before convincing her husband to become
celibate, and decidedly public in her devotional brand, making long pilgrimages
around England and all the way to Jerusalem; Julian was an anchoress – a type
of religious hermit, living a reclusive spiritual life, walled-up with her cat
in a cell attached to a church, with only a small window through which to
receive food and speak to visitors. Julian’s renown was posthumous, her book
unlikely to have been circulated during her life; Kempe was a medieval
celebrity, drawing crowds and attention (sometimes negative – she was tried for
heresy several times). Julian has always been known to scholars; Kempe’s
autobiography is a recent discovery, contained in a single manuscript
discovered in the cupboard of a Derbyshire mansion and identified in 1934 by
American scholar of medieval history, Hope Emily Allen. Julian’s Revelations records
the visions she received from Christ following an illness in 1373, and is a
highly regarded work of Christian mysticism, notable for its feminine
perspective and delicate, evocative analogies, particularly the image of Christ
as mother. Kempe’s Book is an account of her life and
conversations with Christ.” – Cecily Fasham. Kempe’s famous weeping makes me
think of her as a sort of Medieval Tammy Faye Bakker. Dame Julian recounts her
famous vision: “And in this he [Jesus] showed me a little thing, the quantity
of a hazel nut, lying in the palm of my hand, as it seemed. And it was as round
as any ball. I looked upon it with the eye of my understanding, and thought,
‘What may this be?’ And it was answered generally thus, ‘It is all that is
made.’ I marveled how it might last, for I thought it might suddenly have
fallen to nothing for littleness. And I was answered in my understanding: It
lasts and ever shall, for God loves it. And so have all things their beginning
by the love of God. In this little thing I saw three properties. The first is
that God made it. The second that God loves it. And the third, that God keeps
it.” Penguin Classics.
Ranking: Keepers.
File Code: Religion. Biography. Softcovers.
The Anatomy of Melancholy, by Robert Burton.
“On its surface, the book is presented as a medical textbook in which Burton
applies his vast and varied learning, in the scholastic manner, to the subject of melancholia (which includes, although it is
not limited to, what is now termed clinical depression). Although presented as a medical text, The Anatomy of
Melancholy is as much a sui generis work of literature as it is a
scientific or philosophical text, and Burton addresses far more than his stated
subject. In fact, the Anatomy uses melancholy as the lens
through which all human emotion and thought may be scrutinized, and virtually
the entire contents of a 17th-century library are marshalled into service of
this goal. It is encyclopedic in its range and reference. In his satirical
preface to the reader, Burton's persona and pseudonym "Democritus Junior"
explains, "I write of melancholy by being busy to avoid melancholy."
This is characteristic of the author's style, which often supersedes the book's
strengths as a medical text or historical document as its main source of appeal
to admirers. Both satirical and serious in tone, the Anatomy is
"vitalized by (Burton's) pervading humour", and Burton's
digressive and inclusive style, often verging on a stream of consciousness, consistently informs and animates the text. In
addition to the author's techniques, the Anatomy's vast
breadth – addressing topics such as digestion, goblins, the geography of
America, and others – make it a valuable contribution to multiple research
disciplines.” – Wikipedia. It has had fans such as Samuel Johnson, Charles
Lamb, John Keats, Jorge Luis Borges, and Dorothy L. Sayers. Another big thick
brick of a book, not very handy for reading, and alas, unread by me as yet.
Ranking: Culturally Essential.
File Code: Medical/Literary/Philosophical. Softcover.
Sir Thomas Browne: Selected Writings, Edited by Sir Geoffrey
Keynes.
His best works, like Religio Medici, Urn-Burial, and Vulgar
Errors, with others, are all sampled here. This 17th Century author
had a huge influence on many other writers even into our time (from Johnson to
Borges and beyond). This secondhand book is well scribbled in; I remember
choosing it to read while waiting in the hospital in San Antonio during Mom’s
last visit.
Ranking: Culturally Essential.
File Code: 17th Century. Omnium Gatherum.
Softcover.
