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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Sorry--I think my initial post may have been too cryptic. Here's what I posted as a follow up on Mediev-L: What I'm curious about is two things: exactly how to talk about individuality in ideal monastic conditions (i.e. what exactly the emptying of the will in the Benedictine rule and other monastic writings entails), and anything that might deal with how a saint is "constructed" in a saints' life--how that saint is seen as being part of the communion of saints and thus the barriers between the saints break down, as in The Earliest Life of Gregory, how saints are typologically constructed, etc. It's all part of a larger project on medieval subjectivity, and I'm trying in the part I'm currently working on to discuss subjectivity in the saints lives. The monastic angle is important because I think audiences and intentions are part of the equation--how should we incorporate the monastic environment and the place of the saint's life in the liturgy into a discussion of the type of subjectivity we see in the saints' lives? I guess what's at the heart of this question is "How did people conceive of themselves as people?" I think there's going to be a difference between secular and religious works, and that those works that come out of the monastery are going to be tapping into a very different version of what it means to be an individual than other works--individuality is going to be less of a concern, perhaps, because of the focus on the eternal and the constant reminder of eternal time and space provided by "living" the liturgy. Yet individuals still have to be dealt with to a certain degree in these texts. "How are these individuals conceived of?" is the question I'm trying to answer. I guess I'm moving towards an intertextual conception--saints are "built" by making various pre-existing texts speak to one another possibly in conjunction with some actual events from a real life (of course in the case of St. Rumwold . . .). If this insight proves true, however, I'm not quite sure yet what I want to do with it. Does that make it any more clear? I apologize for the lack of clarity--this is a thought in formation rather than something fully thought out, which is why I'd like to find some secondary sources, if possible. --Ron Ganze Department of English University of Oregon ----- Original Message ----- From: "Angus Graham" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Sunday, 03 June, 2001 10:02 AM Subject: Re: [M-R] Monks, Saints, and Subjectivity > medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture > > I'd be interested in hearing something more concrete about what Mr Ganze > regards as 'subjectivity' in this area. This might be interesting but, > without an example or two, I do not see how this might be carried > forward. > > Angus Graham, Oman > > ********************************************************************** > To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME > to: [log in to unmask] > To send a message to the list, address it to: > [log in to unmask] > To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion > to: [log in to unmask] > In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: > [log in to unmask] > For further information, visit our web site: > http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html