Middle English devotional compilations : composing imaginative variations in late Medieval England / Diana Denissen.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Compiling Styles and Strategies -- The Pore Caitif -- The Tretyse of Love -- A Talkyng of the Love of God -- Afterword : Without the Multiplication of Many Books?

In late medieval England, many religious texts were based on older source texts that were collected together and adapted to fit the needs of new, late medieval audiences. This book argues that devotional compilations written in Middle English are unique additions to late medieval textual and religious culture.

Middle English devotional compilations - consisting of a series of texts or extracts of texts that have intentionally been put together to constitute new and unified devotional texts - have often been approached as complex collections of source texts that need to be linked with their originals. This book argues that the study of compilations should move beyond the disentanglement of their sources. It approaches compiling as a literary activity and an active way of shaping the medieval text, with the aim to nuance scholarly discussion about compiling by putting greater emphasis on the literary instead of the technical aspects of compiling activity. In addition to describing the additions, omissions and other types of adaptations that compilers made to their source texts, Middle English Devotional Compilations highlights the nature and function of compiling activity in late medieval England, and examines three major but understudied Middle English devotional compilations in depth: The Pore Caitif, The Tretyse of Love and A Talkyng of the Love of God. -- Provided by publisher.

Online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on November 14, 2019).

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