Place and Identity in the Lives of Antony, Paul, and Mary of Egypt
Desert as Borderland
Authors: Mena, Peter
Free Preview- Uses methodologies of literary criticism and history
- Utilizes Gloria Anzaldúa's theories as a guide
- Illustrates how space and identity can only be determined in conjunction with one another
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- About this book
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In this book, Peter Anthony Mena looks closely at descriptions of space in ancient Christian hagiographies and considers how the desert relates to constructions of subjectivity. By reading three pivotal ancient hagiographies—the Life of Antony, the Life of Paul the Hermit, and the Life of Mary of Egypt—in conjunction with Gloria Anzaldúa’s ideas about the US/Mexican borderlands/la frontera, Mena shows readers how descriptions of the desert in these texts are replete with spaces and inhabitants that render the desert a borderland or frontier space in Anzaldúan terms. As a borderland space, the desert functions as a device for the creation of an emerging identity in late antiquity—the desert ascetic. Simultaneously, the space of the desert is created through the image of the saint. Literary critical, religious studies, and historical methodologies converge in this work in order to illuminate a heuristic tool for interpreting the desert in late antiquity and its importance for the development of desert asceticism. Anzaldúa’s theories help guide a reading especially attuned to the important relationship between space and subjectivity.
- About the authors
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Peter Anthony Mena is Assistant Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of San Diego, USA
- Table of contents (6 chapters)
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Introduction: Mapping the Desert, Mapping Identity in Late Antiquity
Pages 1-7
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Anzaldúa, Space Theorist: Mapping Ancient Hagiographies
Pages 9-24
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Tierra Natal: Athanasius’s Desert as Mestiza Homeland
Pages 25-60
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Saints, Centaurs, and Satyrs: Going Wild in the Desert
Pages 61-84
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The Holy Harlotry of Mestizaje
Pages 85-114
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Table of contents (6 chapters)
Bibliographic Information
- Bibliographic Information
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- Book Title
- Place and Identity in the Lives of Antony, Paul, and Mary of Egypt
- Book Subtitle
- Desert as Borderland
- Authors
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- Peter Mena
- Series Title
- Religion and Spatial Studies
- Copyright
- 2019
- Publisher
- Palgrave Macmillan
- Copyright Holder
- The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s)
- eBook ISBN
- 978-3-030-17328-9
- DOI
- 10.1007/978-3-030-17328-9
- Hardcover ISBN
- 978-3-030-17327-2
- Edition Number
- 1
- Number of Pages
- XV, 123
- Number of Illustrations
- 1 b/w illustrations
- Topics
