Bridging the Difference: Reconceptualising the Angel in Medieval Hagiography

Author / Editor
Ashton, Gail.

Title
Bridging the Difference: Reconceptualising the Angel in Medieval Hagiography

Published
Literature and Theology 16: 235-47, 2002.

Description
Uses Luce Irigaray's notion of the "ethics of alterity" to explore the fusion of masculine and feminine in the depiction of angels in several medieval narratives, including Marian accounts and Chaucer's and Bokenham's stories of St. Cecilia. In SNT and elsewhere, angels are masculine constructs, associated with sight, but also feminized symbols associated with smell, sound, and touch.

Chaucer Subjects
Second Nun and Her Tale.