Christopher M. Flavin, Constructions of Feminine Identity in the Catholic Tradition: Inventing Women. Studies in Medieval Literature. London and New York: Lexington Books, 2020, pp. 193.

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Christopher M. Flavin, Associate Professor of English at Northeastern State University in Oklahoma, has written a study of medieval women’s writings, emphasizing that they are firmly grounded in medieval Catholic culture. As indicated in his introduction, Flavin sees his work in relation to Constant Mews’ Listen, Daughter: The Speculum Virginum and the Formation of Religious Women in the Middle Ages (2002), the edited collection Virtue Ethics for Women 1250-1500 (2011), and Elizabeth Mégier’s Scripture and History in the Middle Ages / Schriftsinn und Geschichte im Mittelalter (2018). While some medievalist feminist scholars have been devoted to recuperating a tradition of women’s writing, Flavin seeks to recuperate the value of these women’s religiosity, community, and partnerships with men in producing the literary legacies that have come down to us.