PROJECT PROPOSAL

Although the amount of scholarship being done on the book history of the Mirror continues to grow, there is still more that needs to be done. Introductions like those attached to the 1927, 1999, and other modern editions of this book are a newer addition to texts when compared with the origin date of the Mirror, but they can hold captivating details about how the Mirror was discussed and thought of during its different stages through the centuries. The proposal of this paper is to combine gender studies and book history in order to compare and contrast different original editions of the book itself, from the fifteenth century manuscript copies to the most recent copied editions of today so as to gauge how the book was treated as it was circulated before and after the identity of Marguerite Porete as the author was known. This would add valuable information to the difference in the treatment and reception of texts written by women from the medieval period to now, especially with new copies being found in different contexts than the book was previously believed to exist in. Gender can play an integral role in a text’s reception–as can be well seen from Marguerite’s trial and execution. It was in conjunction with her gender that Marguerite was persecuted because her text was seen as heretical, but did her original book reveal heresies? Did it reveal femininity? Were there physical elements of the book that allowed for it to be attributed to a man? While these questions are impossible to answer at this point, with no lasting copy of the original Old French text Marguerite would have circulated herself, examining and studying the fifteenth century and later manuscripts might help to understand such questions. Looking at provenance, the introductions that frame the text, any potential decorations or embellishments could give an important view of the changes the text’s reputation underwent as it went from anonymous, male, religious author to known, heretical, female author who was executed for writing it.