Drawing together well-known and less familiar works from English and German writers, and focusing on references to clothing, Dutton and Kirakosian argue for important connections between medieval visions and medieval plays. These connections may be, initially, surprising, given the social nature of theatre that contrasts with the intensely personal and subjective nature of the visionary experience. While an audience provides collective witness to a play, the visionary, almost by definition, sees something that others do not: the visionary makes an audience of one for a drama presented – at least according to the believer – by God. By contrast, in the visionary text the visionary seeks to re-present her vision, in literary form, for a wider audience of readers, and to stir their belief in it. Reading across genres and languages, with particular attention on writing by women and on the figure of Mary Magdalen, the authors explore the dynamic power of clothing as a catalyst for imaginative processes in writers, readers and spectators alike.
Die Schriftenreihe repräsentiert die Breite der mediävistischen Forschung an der Universität Zürich und darüber hinaus.
«Abiti e accessori (come corona, scettro ecc.), oltre a veicolare significati simbolici «statici», creano uno spazio mentale paragonabile ai loci della drammaturgia medievale e possono mettere in movimento complesse allegorie, in particolare quando diventano elementi dinamici della rappresentazione o della visione. L’esempio più pregnante viene individuato nelle messe in scena della conversione di Maria Maddalena, caso emblematico su cui le A. si soffermano estesamente attraverso l’esame di numerose rappresentazioni liturgiche e il paragone - in apertura e in conclusione del saggio - con la celebre raffigurazione di Teresa d’Ávila del Bernini. Il volume è corredato da un’ampia bibliografia.»