Monday 29 October 2012

'Page after page of jewels of mystical literature glow with this intimate and impassioned love...'

This morning I've been admiring the work of someone who is uploading the entirety of the Cloud of Unknowing on youtube - quite an undertaking!  The text is Evelyn Underhill's 1922 'translation' of the Cloud, which is not really a translation at all - it's very close indeed to the Middle English (a strategy I thoroughly approve of).  Find it here, and enjoy.

While we're on the subject of medieval mystics, I don't think I've yet linked here to my own reading of a short extract from Julian of Norwich - which is definitely in Middle English, or as close as I could manage...  It's not brilliant, but somebody might find it interesting.

And this related video is good too: 'The mystic is "in love with the Absolute" not in any idle or sentimental manner, but in that deep and vital sense which presses forward at all costs and through all dangers towards union with the object beloved...'

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