Ebook: Body Against Soul: Gender and "Sowlehele" in Middle English Allegory

In medieval allegory, Body and Soul were often pitted against one another in debate. In 'Body Against Soul: Gender and 'Sowlehele' in Middle English Allegory', Masha Raskolnikov argues that such debates function as a mode of thinking about psychology, gender, and power in the Middle Ages. Neither theological nor medical in nature, works of sowlehele ('soul-heal') described the self to itself in everyday language—moderns might call this kind of writing 'self-help'. Bringing together contemporary feminist and queer theory along with medieval psychological thought, 'Body Against Soul' examines 'Piers Plowman', the Katherine Group', and the history of psychological allegory and debate. In so doing, it rewrites the history of the Body to include its recently neglectedfellow, the Soul.