Julian Of Norwich, the Carrow Psalter and Embodied Cinema

TY - CHAP

T1 - Julian Of Norwich, the Carrow Psalter and Embodied Cinema

AU - Salih, Sarah

PY - 2021

Y1 - 2021

N2 - Biblical and contemporary accounts of encounters with presences beyond the normal most commonly understand them as auditory experiences. Medieval Christians, however, were more likely to have multi-sensory encounters, often triggered by intensely affective gazing upon devotional artefacts. The human being, argues Hans Belting, is a ‘living organ for images’: visionary encounters set devotional art in cinematic motion. Visions were on a continuum with routine practices of artistic reception: medieval devotional art was kinetic and interactive. In 1373 Julian of Norwich, believing herself to be dying, saw the crucifix bleed: the encounter exemplifies both the animating power of the devotional gaze and the agential power of the crucifix. This chapter analyses the traces of devotional art in Julian’s Revelations, concentrating on the Carrow PsalterCarrow Psalter (Baltimore: Walters Art Museum, Walters Ms. W.34), an illuminated manuscript probably from Norwich and representative of local devotional culture. Julian’s vision transforms and interrogates devotional art, cascading images to her readers through the centuries to the present day.

AB - Biblical and contemporary accounts of encounters with presences beyond the normal most commonly understand them as auditory experiences. Medieval Christians, however, were more likely to have multi-sensory encounters, often triggered by intensely affective gazing upon devotional artefacts. The human being, argues Hans Belting, is a ‘living organ for images’: visionary encounters set devotional art in cinematic motion. Visions were on a continuum with routine practices of artistic reception: medieval devotional art was kinetic and interactive. In 1373 Julian of Norwich, believing herself to be dying, saw the crucifix bleed: the encounter exemplifies both the animating power of the devotional gaze and the agential power of the crucifix. This chapter analyses the traces of devotional art in Julian’s Revelations, concentrating on the Carrow PsalterCarrow Psalter (Baltimore: Walters Art Museum, Walters Ms. W.34), an illuminated manuscript probably from Norwich and representative of local devotional culture. Julian’s vision transforms and interrogates devotional art, cascading images to her readers through the centuries to the present day.

KW - Julian of Norwich

KW - Carrow Psalter

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85106396480&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/978-3-030-52659-7_7

DO - 10.1007/978-3-030-52659-7_7

M3 - Chapter

SN - 9783030526580

T3 - Palgrave Studies in Literature, Science and Medicine

SP - 147

EP - 174

BT - Palgrave Studies in Literature, Science and Medicine

A2 - Saunders, Corinne

A2 - Powell, Hilary

PB - Palgrave Macmillan

ER -