Between silence and speech : mystical experience in contemporary women's writing

McCaffery, S

Abstract

This thesis examines the representation of mysticism and female mystics in
contemporary women's writing, with specific reference to fiction by Michele Roberts,
Sarah Waters, Margaret Atwood and Janet Frame. Drawing upon a core mystical
problem (the question of how to articulate the ineffable divine), women's mystical
experience is seen as paradoxical and contradictory, with the female body and psyche
divided between the two competing forces of silence and speech. The ineffable
silence associated with the classical mystical experience is challenged by alternative
female expressions and visions. Drawing upon the psycholinguistic theory of Luce
Irigaray, other modes of female "divine" speech are identified in contemporary
women's writing; these articulations are explored through an analysis of specific
images that evoke theoretical and bodily "openings": the imageries of apocalypse,
iconoclasm and wounding.
The thesis begins from the inspiration and legacy of the medieval women
mystics, and identifies the classical tropes and movements that are employed in
contemporary reflections upon mystical "lives." The medieval biographies of female
saints are echoed in fictional encounters with Victorian spiritualism and in Janet
Frame's model of "postmodern sainthood." Mystical imagery (such as darkness and
light, or the bottomless well) is employed to articulate the revealing "contradictions"
of female experience and lesbian and feminist identity, and to dismantle the
patriarchal theological language that has traditionally constructed women's
relationship to the divine.
Note: Unless otherwise stated, all Biblical references are taken from the King James
Authorised Version of the Bible.

Citation

McCaffery, S. Between silence and speech : mystical experience in contemporary women's writing. (Thesis). University of Salford

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Aug 19, 2021
• Award Date: Nov 1, 2008