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Further on the notion of "desire" and its possible interpretations, I would recommend Geoffrey Galt Harpham's monograph "The Ascetic Imperative in Culture and Criticism" (U of Chicago, 1987). He deals with Athanasius' Life of Anthony, Augustine's Confessions, and other works, using the premise that asceticism is a foundational activity of Christianised culture. In an extremely abbreviated paraphrase, he makes the point that asceticism, and its literature, are acts that are not about self-denial, but inherently about desire itself. Any further compression of his very complex argument would be quite silly, but I found the book extremely helpful when looking at such hagiographic works as Cynewulf's Juliana. Regards, Terry %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%