La représentation des sens de la religieuse : de la construction d’un imaginaire genré à la mortification virile
This paper analyses two Portuguese devout biographies and one eighteenth-century hagiography. In a first part, it focuses on the construction of models of feminine perfection and on how social representations of women influenced that very same construction. It then looks at a set of elements that mi...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Institut du Monde Anglophone
2019-02-01
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| Series: | Etudes Epistémè |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journals.openedition.org/episteme/3157 |
| _version_ | 1818558061193723904 |
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| author | Helena Queirós |
| author_facet | Helena Queirós |
| author_sort | Helena Queirós |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This paper analyses two Portuguese devout biographies and one eighteenth-century hagiography. In a first part, it focuses on the construction of models of feminine perfection and on how social representations of women influenced that very same construction. It then looks at a set of elements that might be considered as a rhetoric of restraint, which is quite noticeable in these works as far as vision and touch are concerned. As for hearing, smell and taste, the gender dimension is less obvious but still detectable at the level of an imaginary clearly forged on gendered logics. Finally, this paper deals with what was called the mortification of the senses, the active dimension of which gives us examples of extreme asceticism. Even if the mortification of the senses is not exclusively feminine, it seems to be more intense and more decisive in the Lives of women than in those of their male counterparts. This work on the body is often perceived as something excessive and unsuitable for the “fragile sex”, an aspect that will prove essential to understanding why some of these women were considered “virile”. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-14T00:07:51Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5192e462f0df49d499acae393f6df431 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1634-0450 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-14T00:07:51Z |
| publishDate | 2019-02-01 |
| publisher | Institut du Monde Anglophone |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Etudes Epistémè |
| spelling | doaj.art-5192e462f0df49d499acae393f6df4312022-12-21T23:25:54ZengInstitut du Monde AnglophoneEtudes Epistémè1634-04502019-02-013410.4000/episteme.3157La représentation des sens de la religieuse : de la construction d’un imaginaire genré à la mortification virileHelena QueirósThis paper analyses two Portuguese devout biographies and one eighteenth-century hagiography. In a first part, it focuses on the construction of models of feminine perfection and on how social representations of women influenced that very same construction. It then looks at a set of elements that might be considered as a rhetoric of restraint, which is quite noticeable in these works as far as vision and touch are concerned. As for hearing, smell and taste, the gender dimension is less obvious but still detectable at the level of an imaginary clearly forged on gendered logics. Finally, this paper deals with what was called the mortification of the senses, the active dimension of which gives us examples of extreme asceticism. Even if the mortification of the senses is not exclusively feminine, it seems to be more intense and more decisive in the Lives of women than in those of their male counterparts. This work on the body is often perceived as something excessive and unsuitable for the “fragile sex”, an aspect that will prove essential to understanding why some of these women were considered “virile”.http://journals.openedition.org/episteme/3157female sanctityrhetoric of restraintmortification of the sensesvirile womengendereighteenth century |
| spellingShingle | Helena Queirós La représentation des sens de la religieuse : de la construction d’un imaginaire genré à la mortification virile Etudes Epistémè female sanctity rhetoric of restraint mortification of the senses virile women gender eighteenth century |
| title | La représentation des sens de la religieuse : de la construction d’un imaginaire genré à la mortification virile |
| title_full | La représentation des sens de la religieuse : de la construction d’un imaginaire genré à la mortification virile |
| title_fullStr | La représentation des sens de la religieuse : de la construction d’un imaginaire genré à la mortification virile |
| title_full_unstemmed | La représentation des sens de la religieuse : de la construction d’un imaginaire genré à la mortification virile |
| title_short | La représentation des sens de la religieuse : de la construction d’un imaginaire genré à la mortification virile |
| title_sort | la representation des sens de la religieuse de la construction d un imaginaire genre a la mortification virile |
| topic | female sanctity rhetoric of restraint mortification of the senses virile women gender eighteenth century |
| url | http://journals.openedition.org/episteme/3157 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT helenaqueiros larepresentationdessensdelareligieusedelaconstructiondunimaginairegenrealamortificationvirile |