The Book of Margery Kempe (Masterplots II: Women’s Literature Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Margery Kempe
- First Published: 1436
- Type of Work: Autobiography
- Time of Work: The fifteenth century
- Setting: England and Jerusalem
- Principal Characters: Margery Kempe, John Kempe
- Genres: Nonfiction, Autobiography, Religion and spirituality
- Subjects: Wives, Marriage, Religion, God, Spiritual life or spirituality, England or English people, Preaching, Fifteenth century, Mysticism, Jesus Christ, Convents or nunneries, Celibacy, Chastity, Prayers
- Locales: England, Jerusalem
Form and Content
The Book of Margery Kempe, the first known autobiography in English, is the account of a fifteenth century mystic. Unlike most medieval mystics—persons who enjoyed an intimate rapport with God—Kempe was neither a recluse nor a member of a religious order, but rather the wife of a town burgess and the mother of fourteen children. Although she worried that her wifehood made her less pleasing to God than if she had been a virgin, Christ assured her through her meditations that He loved married women too and that her reward in Heaven would be equal to...
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