This book is a systematic linguistic study of, and commentary upon, Julian of Norwich-s A Vision Showed to a Devout Woman. Luke Penkett draws attention to the medieval anchoress-s stylistic brilliance, clarifies complicated passages for the twenty-first century reader, and summarises and builds upon the wisdom of the most up-to-date scholarly research to inspire fresh insight of what is the earliest record of a woman writing in the English language.Penkett gives context to Julian-s writing with a survey of other English literary texts of the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. He offers a detailed analysis of the notable vocabulary and syntax employed by Julian, her rhetorical techniques, and of what we can learn from the stylistic choices of Julian as both -listener- and -communicator-. The book concludes with a fascinating study of what we can learn of the initial reader and listener responses to Julian-s writing from the marginalia found in the manuscript of the Short Te
