{"product_id":"scribit-mater-georgiana-donavin-9780813218854","title":"Scribit Mater: Mary and the Language Arts in the Literature of Medieval England","description":"\u003cp\u003eMary, Mother of the Word, became an icon for excellent communication during the English Middle Ages. This engaging work explores the literature that established Mary as headmistress of the liberal arts and exemplar of perfected speech. Given England's rich and extended practices of Marian piety, Georgiana Donavin focuses her research solely on English writers, from the Anglo-Saxon period through the Late Middle Ages. In the writings of John of Garland, John of Howden, Chaucer, Gower, Lydgate, Margery Kempe, and several anonymous lyricists and playwrights, Donavin illuminates Mary's position as the great teacher of trivium studies and muse of various discourses. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e Scribit Mater\u003c\/i\u003e begins with a survey of medieval English representations of the Virgin Mary as a wise and studious woman. It demonstrates how diverse authors imagined the Virgin's holy speech to be the highest sign of her wisdom. These authors venerated Mary as a Christian Lady Rhetorica because they were taught to read and compose by studying Marian services and hymns, they heard Mary's mellifluous speech in renderings of the\u003ci\u003e Magnificat\u003c\/i\u003e and other popular lyrics, or they saw the Virgin Birth as the purest articulation of the Word. They appropriated Mary's rhetorical powers in many forms: in university textbooks teaching students to imitate the Virgin's oratory, in meditations describing the Virgin's body as a holy grammar, in short lyrics extolling the Virgin's beautiful voice, in long narrative verse seeking the Virgin's inspiration and illumination, and more. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e While \u003ci\u003eScribit Mater\u003c\/i\u003e highlights different medieval English understandings of the Virgin's sapient eloquence according to class, education, and gender, it demonstrates long-standing and widespread traditions acknowledging and celebrating the Mother's verbal prowess. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eABOUT THE AUTHOR: \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Georgiana Donavin, professor of English at Westminster College, is the author of\u003ci\u003e Incest Narratives and the Structure of Gower's 'Confessio Amantis' \u003c\/i\u003eand other essays on John Gower's poetry. Along with Eve Salisbury and Merrall L. Price, she co-edited \u003ci\u003eDomestic Violence in Medieval Texts. \u003c\/i\u003e She is coeditor of the series\u003ci\u003e Disputatio, \u003c\/i\u003e and her special projects for that series include \u003ci\u003eSpeculum Sermonis: Interdisciplinary Reflections on the Medieval Sermon \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eRomance and Rhetoric: Essays in Honour of Dhira B. Mahoney.\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Georgiana Donavin\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0813218853\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780813218854\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Catholic University of America Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 11\/29\/2011\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 315\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.40lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.10h x 6.30w x 1.10d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 06\/01\/2012","brand":"Georgiana Donavin","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":48136168046847,"sku":"9780813218854","price":75.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_c5c035b7-1a5c-4230-8b38-719be1747382.jpg?v=1770160965","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/scribit-mater-georgiana-donavin-9780813218854","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}