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Reading Christ the book in Aemilia Lanyer’s Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum (1611) : iconography and the cultures of reading
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Molekamp, Femke (2012) Reading Christ the book in Aemilia Lanyer’s Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum (1611) : iconography and the cultures of reading. Studies in Philology, Volume 109 (Number 3). pp. 311-332. doi:10.1353/sip.2012.0018 ISSN 1543-0383.
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/sip.2012.0018
Abstract
Aemilia Lanyer's poem, Salve Deus Rex J udaeorum, uses striking pre-Reformation iconography to present Christ as a book, a strategy that has not received prior critical attention. This article argues that this metaphor, together with the metaphoric presentation of her book as a sacred feast, lies at the center of the mode of affective devotional reading. It also aligns her own text with scripture and authorizes her poetics. In providing instructions for reading Christ the Book that are rich in the language of affective meditation, Lanyer draws on a tradition of pre-Reformation contemplative reading, which, the article argues, can be identified in early modern female devotional traditions. The article discusses the history of the use of the iconography of Christ as a book, from the twelfth century to Lancelot Andrewes, and explores it in relation to Bernadine and Lutheran spirituality. It argues that Lanyer engages a diverse nexus of confessional modalities in her treatment of this iconography and of religious sorrow, matching her own mixed religious heritage and the confessionally diverse group of her dedicatees. She uses a poetics of incarnation to overcome difference and to promote the synergistic force of reading the Passion. © 2012 The University of North Carolina Press.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||
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Divisions: | Faculty of Arts > English and Comparative Literary Studies | ||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Studies in Philology | ||||
Publisher: | University of North Carolina Press | ||||
ISSN: | 1543-0383 | ||||
Official Date: | March 2012 | ||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | Volume 109 | ||||
Number: | Number 3 | ||||
Page Range: | pp. 311-332 | ||||
DOI: | 10.1353/sip.2012.0018 | ||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||
Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access |
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