The Writing and Reception of Catherine of Siena
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City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 6-2017 Lyrical Mysticism: The Writing and Reception of Catherine of Siena Lisa Tagliaferri Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/2154 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] LYRICAL MYSTICISM: THE WRITING AND RECEPTION OF CATHERINE OF SIENA by LISA TAGLIAFERRI A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Comparative Literature in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The City University of New York 2017 © Lisa Tagliaferri 2017 Some rights reserved. Except where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Images and third-party content are not being made available under the terms of this license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ ii Lyrical Mysticism: The Writing and Reception of Catherine of Siena by Lisa Tagliaferri This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in Comparative Literature in satisfaction of the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. 19 April 2017 Clare Carroll Chair of Examining Committee 19 April 2017 Giancarlo Lombardi Executive Officer Supervisory Committee: Clare Carroll Monica Calabritto Steven Kruger THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK iii ABSTRACT Lyrical Mysticism: The Writing and Reception of Catherine of Siena by Lisa Tagliaferri Advisor: Clare Carroll Lyrical Mysticism: The Writing and Reception of Catherine of Siena (https://caterina.io) affirms the 14th-century mystic Catherine of Siena as a writer through contextualizing her texts among the corpus of contemporary Italian literature, and studying her reception in the Renaissance period of Italy and England. Joining an increasing body of recent meaningful scholarship that has been making significant progress to recover many overlooked and peripheral female voices of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, this work serves to fully assert Catherine as a writer of work that is literarily significant and worthy of textual analysis alongside contemporary male Italian authors, many of whom also wrote on religious matters and spirituality. The current project firmly casts Catherine of Siena as a literary figure through utilizing a gender theory framework and exploring her body of work alongside contemporary poetry, through network analysis of her community-driven writing and spiritual activism, and via the reception of her texts in England. Theoretically situating Catherine the mystic as a liminal figure, Chapter I argues that the space Catherine inhabits is queer in multiple ways: between male and female, virgin and sexual, human and godlike, earthly and divine. Chapter II investigates the iv literary exchange that took place between poetic and mystical writing, concluding that the influence is not merely one-directional, but that the two genres serve to influence each other. Leveraging data visualization and network analysis, Chapter III discusses the textual state and history of Catherine’s letters, investigating the contemporary literary network that Catherine formed around herself through the transmission of her writing. Chapter IV analyzes the metaphors and images of Catherine’s letters, examining the pragmatic financial language she utilized in writing to secular and religious interlocutors, and the powerful corporeal language she used in letters written to fellow mantellate. Chapter V explores the history of the book in terms of the transposition and reception of Catherinian texts, especially the Dialogo, which was written in Italian for a lay audience, translated into Latin for a professional religious audience, then translated into English for a communal female religious audience. This dissertation views Catherine’s authorship as that which is embedded within a community-based network and political and public life, presenting her as a truly singular instance of a 14th-century figure who was active in both deed and word, and whose literary voice resonated across European vernacular languages and through the medieval and early modern periods. This work firmly asserts Catherine of Siena, in her own right, as among the early innovators of the Italian literary tradition, providing opportunities for future humanistic inquiry into Catherine’s texts. v Acknowledgements One of the things I do, when I step up on a stage … I bring everyone who has ever been kind to me with me — ... I say come with me, I’m going on the stage, come with me, I need you now … so I don’t ever feel I have no help. I’ve had rainbows in my clouds. — Maya Angelou Writing is a collaborative enterprise. This text could not be possible without the many people who have helped me along the way, and who I “bring” with me whenever I face an arduous task. I have been fortunate to have made lifelong friendships with professors from my undergraduate and master’s degrees — Jack Salzman, Clara Mucci, and Carrol Coates have guided me through my early academic years and continue to mentor me now. At the Graduate Center, Cathy Davidson has inspired me through her tireless work to drive equity in higher education, and encouraged me to include a digital component as part of the present dissertation. My committee members Monica Calabritto and Steven Kruger have offered me engaging conversations, sharp eyes, and gentle corrections. Most of all, my advisor Clare Carroll has been the best guide I could have asked for on this journey, giving me so much of her time, intellect, and care throughout this process. Working alongside peers has been a great gift, and I would like to acknowledge the discussion, support, collaboration, and friendship I have shared with Yulia Greyman, Danica Savonick, Kalle Westerling, Javiela Evangelista, Becca Howard, and the Folger Library’s “Researching the Archive” 2015-2016 seminar cohort. The Futures Initiative and HASTAC have provided a second home for me in my last few years of graduate vi school, and I would like to thank Katina Rogers, Lauren Melendez, and Kaysi Holman for being great colleagues who continue to do such important and meaningful work. Additionally, my students have in many ways taught me the most; I am so appreciative of the time I have spent in the classroom building knowledge together. Finally, my family has provided me with such a strong foundation and so much unwavering support that I could not have done this without them. My siblings, Teresa and Anthony, have served as ad hoc editors and presentation audiences, and continue to amaze me as they grow. My grandmother, Marie, perpetually extends kindness, generosity, and tea. My parents, Maryann and George, have always believed in me even when I did not believe in myself, and I cannot thank them enough. vii Dedication For my mother and for Arno. Reconocí en la voz del Arno entonces viejas palabras que buscaban mi boca, como el que nunca conoció la miel y halla que reconoce su delicia. — Pablo Neruda viii Table of Contents List of Figures ............................................................................................................... x Digital Manifest ............................................................................................................ xi Note to Readers ............................................................................................................. xii Introduction ................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter I: The Figure of the Mystic ............................................................................. 24 Chapter II: “O amore ineffabile”: The Poetics of Mysticism ....................................... 55 Chapter III: Catherine’s Letter Writing and Her Italian Network ................................ 86 Chapter IV: “Ogni cosa passa”: How Catherine’s Letters Negotiated This World and The Next.......................................................................................... 116 Chapter V: The English Reception of Catherine of Siena’s Texts and Spirituality ..... 155 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 185 Appendix ....................................................................................................................... 190 Bibliography ................................................................................................................. 197 ix List of Figures Fig. 1. Word Cloud Visualizations: Catherine’s Dialogo and Dante’s Paradiso ....... ......55 Fig. 2. Word Cloud of Petrarch’s Rerum vulgarium fragmenta ........................................80 Fig. 3. Word Cloud of Catherine’s Letters ........................................................................80 Fig. 4. Recipient Locations of Catherine of Siena’s Letters ..............................................91 Fig. 5. Flare Network Diagram of Catherine’s Letters and Their Recipients ....................97 Fig. 6. Catherine of Siena’s Network.................................................................................99 Fig. 7. Catherine of Siena’s Letter Recipients by Group .................................................101