medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
From: "Phyllis G. Jestice" <[log in to unmask]>
> >Beauty is of course in the eye of the beholder, but I think most
people would agree that some hagiographical works are better than
others. What Bruno of Querfurt has to offer (both in the Vita quinque fratrum
and the Vita Adalberti) is:
> very nicely flowing prose style, with good word choices and reasonable
sophistication without obscurity
yes, simple Compentency is a definite Plus.
> a sense of the saint in question as a three-dimensional human being,
rather than some sort of two-dimensional icon
that's something of an anachronistic criterion, is it not?
when making a similar sort of judgement, i don't think that i would demand
analogous attributes in a work of figurative art --otherwise "Romanesque"
exemplars would, inherently, be "inferior" to "Gothic" ones, and "Gothic" ones
would, inherently, be "inferior" to "Renaissance" ones, "Renaissance" ones
"inferior" to "Soviet Realism" ones, yaddayadda, etc.
would they not?
it is precisely the "two-dimensional", even "iconic" quality of, say, "La Vie
de Saint Alexis" (sorry, it's about the only bit of hagiography i'm actually
familiar with, at all) which makes it what it is: a wonderfully stylised,
abstract, sharply drawn, and arithmetically determined work, totally
exemplarly of its own time (not my own) --rather like a perfect "Romanesque"
tympanum, its abstract figures laid out according to Henri Focillon's "Loi du
Cadre", refusing to partake of the "reality" of our merely phenomenal world.
> a sense of the saint-in-progress as a person who has to struggle to
reach sainthood, rather than just being born as super-kid with no
weaknesses and going on from there
again, clearly a criterion which begins with a very definite (and thorougly
modren) view of what a "saint" should be.
i presume that you don't find such "struggles" to be all that common, among
the works of middlevil hagiographers?
i wonder why?
what does that tell us about *their* point of view --rather than our own?
> some engagement with larger theological issues
another potential base to be touched, yes, but what if such "issues" are quite
irrelevant to the hagiographer's subject or purpose??
> and of course, as in Bruno's acquaintance, actual acquaintance with
the saints being described is a real plus
would you discard the lives of all of these "mythical" saints which you kindly
regale us with day after day (and, thank you very much for that), then ?
is the only purpose of hagiographic study to "reconstruct" the "true" life of
the "saint"?
besides, you left out the most important criterion : how well can the Movie
Version be cast?
is there a place for Willem Defoe in it?
for Mel Gibson?
Charlton Heston?
and would De Mille be a better choice as director, or Scorsese?
*these* are the Burning Questions.
best from here,
christopher
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