Fruit of the Orchard sheds light on how Catherine of Siena served as a visible and widespread representative of English piety becoming a part of the devotional landscape of the period. By analyzing a variety of texts, including monastic and lay, complete and excerpted, shared and private, author Jennifer N. Brown considers how the visionary prophet and author was used to demonstrate orthodoxy, subversion, and heresy.

Tracing the book tradition of Catherine of Siena, as well as investigating the circulation of manuscripts, Brown explores how the various perceptions of the Italian saint were reshaped and understood by an English readership. By examining the practice of devotional reading, she reveals how this sacred exercise changed through a period of increased literacy, the rise of the printing press, and religious turmoil.

About the Author
Jennifer N. Brown is an associate professor and chair of English and World Literatures at Marymount Manhattan College.

Reviews

"Brown has written a very well researched work. On the basis of twenty-one manuscript and printed excepts or complete copies of works by and about Catherine, she has constructed a plausible picture of how Catherine became known in England between 1400 and 1700, who read her and why."

-- Hugh Feiss * Journal of British Studies *

"[Fruit of the Orchard] is a fascinating study of English piety that clearly will interest specialists in women's visionary culture. [Brown's] close readings of specific texts add to our understanding of their creation, transmission, and reception. Scholars investigating connections between gender and spiritual authority, as well as the discourse between Latin and vernacular texts in an era of increasing literacy and print culture, will come away with new questions to pursue."

-- Lezlie Knox, Marquette University * Early Modern Women *

"Fruit of the Orchard has been a decade in the writing: it was worth waiting for."

-- Luke Penkett, The Julian Centre, Norwich * Spiritus *



Book Information
ISBN 9781487504076
Author Jennifer N. Brown
Format Hardback
Page Count 328
Imprint University of Toronto Press
Publisher University of Toronto Press
Weight(grams) 630g
Dimensions(mm) 235mm * 160mm * 25mm