TY - BOOK ID - 142193720 TI - Spiritual literature in the late medieval Low Countries AU - Mertens, Thomas Felix Constantijn AU - Arblaster, John AU - Stoop, Patricia AU - Ermens, Daniël AU - Fraeters, Veerle AU - Schepers, Kees AU - Van Engen, John H. PY - 2024 SN - 9782503581002 2503581005 PB - Turnhout: Brepols, DB - UniCat KW - Christian literature, Dutch KW - Dutch prose literature KW - Devotional literature, Dutch (Middle) KW - History and criticism. KW - Beneluxlanden KW - Literatuur [Middeleeuwse ] KW - Literature and spiritualism KW - Geschiedenis KW - Geschiedenis en kritiek KW - Mertens, Thom KW - Histoire KW - Littérature KW - Moyen âge -- 476-1492 KW - Spiritualité KW - Pays-Bas bourguignon UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:142193720 AB - This volume brings together fifteen seminal essays by Thom Mertens, a professor at the Ruusbroec Institute (Ruusbroecgenootschap) at Antwerp University since 1985, and a pioneer in the study of the late medieval spiritual literature of the Low Countries, a field that had previously been neglected in favour of the study of belle lettres. This volume is therefore also a celebration of the paradigm shift that Mertens led, as he demonstrated that most of the late medieval texts produced in the Low Countries actually qualify as spiritual literature, and that these understudied literary works are of prime importance within late medieval textual culture. Of the essays gathered here, nine have been translated into English for the first time, while six have been re-edited, forming a collection that bears witness to the importance of Dutch literature as a broader part of the vernacular literatures of Western Europe, and of the societies that gave rise to these works. It is in large part thanks to Mertens’ efforts that serious scholarly engagement with these spiritual texts, their characteristics, and their function has become a field of research in its own right that continues to flourish ER -