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IMC 2021: Sessions

Session 1813: Representations of Temperate / Intemperate Emotions in Visual Art and Literature, IV: Mystical and Clerical Writing

Thursday 8 July 2021, 16.30-18.00

Organiser:Dafna Nissim, Department of the Arts, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva
Moderator/Chair:Sara Offenberg, Department of the Arts, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva
Paper 1813-aOvercoming Fears, Controlling Demons: Magic and Royal Behaviour
(Language: English)
Gal Sofer, Department of Jewish Thought / Joyce & Irving Goldman Medical School, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Index terms: Hebrew and Jewish Studies, Manuscripts and Palaeography
Paper 1813-bGender, Genre, and Divine Love in the Writings of Mechthild of Magdeburg and Henry Suso
(Language: English)
Alice Spiers, St Anne's College, University of Oxford
Index terms: Gender Studies, Religious Life, Women's Studies
Paper 1813-cRichard Rolle's 'Oleum effusm' in Latin and Middle English
(Language: English)
Abigail M. Adams, Department of English, University of Texas, Austin
Index terms: Biblical Studies, Language and Literature - Middle English, Language and Literature - Latin, Lay Piety
Abstract

In medieval philosophy, excessive joy, fear, or anger were signs of an imbalance in the human organism that had implications on one's moral behavior, decision-making, and, ultimately, salvation. Medieval theological treatises, mirror for princes genre texts, fictional literature, and chivalric manuals wrote of temperance as a virtue that has to be practiced and achieved, a quality that demonstrated the balanced path between the extremes of excess and deficiency. Medieval texts and visual culture reflect many allusions to the importance of temperate emotions in realizing the virtue of moderation. This session addresses mystical and clerical texts. The papers reveal how the context of authorship and production, as well as genre conventions, influence expression of emotions in texts and the way the writers communicate them with their audiences.