本篇論文旨在討論神秘主義與瑪喬芮的信仰特質，援用皮耶．布赫迪厄(Pierre Bourdieu)的觀點和茱蒂絲．芭特勒(Judith Butler)的觀點意在揭露《瑪喬芮坎普之書》中，瑪喬芮．坎普(Margery Kempe)如何替自身爭取一片發聲空間，以及如何在這有限的空間中展演模擬(Imatio)的傳統，最後與抄寫員合作，把自己的神秘經驗書寫成書。
第一章先簡略的概述神秘主義在西方發展的歷史，再借由Pierre Bourdieu的habitu和實際實行(actual practice)來剖析基督教神秘主義和瑪喬芮．坎普的信仰特質與其所處的社群和社會間的互動。借由habitus和實際實行之間的關係，來揭露瑪喬芮．坎普的habitus雖屬有感染力的信仰特質，實際實行的展演，卻被她的中產階級背景所影響，而帶有物質性(materiality)。宗教和經濟和社會之間不可抹滅的互動和其間模糊的界線，瑪喬芮．坎普的女性信仰特質也從模糊的界線中藉由中產階級擅長的協調(negotiation)與交換(exchange)，爭取到一絲發聲空間。第二章由茱蒂絲．芭特勒(Judith Butler)對性別和身份認同的批評和其展演(performantivity)理論來討論瑪喬芮．坎普的模擬(Imitatio)中的身份認同。模擬基督(The imitation of Christ)是把瑪喬芮．坎普的身體和基督並列，藉由最終變成基督，賦予意義於瑪喬芮．坎普的無法控制的哭泣(uncontrollable wails)和面臨的審判。而世俗的性別認同，經由與基督重覆交換的多重身份，把父權社會加諸於瑪喬芮身上的限制鬆綁，借由模擬顯露出父權社會下，瑪喬芮．坎普難以覓得適當性別認同和身份認同的窘境。而從模擬基督(The Imitation of Christ)中，認同聖母瑪莉亞的角色進而發展，藉由模擬瑪莉亞(The imitation of the Virgin Mary)把母性經驗從家庭的範疇重置於全世界的範疇。第三章延續前兩章的論點，探討瑪喬芮．坎普與抄寫員之間的互動。瑪喬芮．坎普口述其神秘經驗由抄寫員抄寫成《瑪喬芮．坎普之書》。論此書的作者究竟是是瑪喬芮．坎普還是抄寫員們。

This thesis attempts to unravel the ways which Margery Kempe uses to negotiate a limited space for voicing her experience in the secular world. In the first chapter, I employ Pierre Bourdieu’s notion of habitus and the relationship of habitus and actual practices. I intend to explore the habitus of Margery Kempe’s piety in conjunction with the tactics of negotiation and exchange which Margery Kempe internalizes from the upbringing of mercantile community. I hope to reveal how Kempe’s actual practices of affective piety are altered by her mercantile mentality. I argue that this alteration on the convention of affective piety practiced by Margery Kempe actually provides Margery Kempe with tactics of negotiation and exchanges to create a limited space for voicing her experience in the patriarchal society. Then, in the second chapter, I apply Judith Butler’s critique of the fixed identity and the notion of performantivity to discuss the issue of performing female’s body, female experiences and gender roles in the construction of Kempe’s identity in The Book in relation to Margery Kempe’s practices of the imitation of Christ, imitation of the Virgin Mary and of the female saints. The last part of thesis aims to discuss the issue of the author, the scribes and authority in The Book in relation to the notion of author and authorship in the Middle Ages. I intend to explore the relation between the scribes and Margery Kempe in relation to the tradition of the collaborative writing between female mystics and their scribes in the mystical texts. I hope by analyzing the roles of the scribes, voice, and language in the narrative we can find out whose voice is favored and thus possess the authority in The Book. Besides the issue of author and authority, I will explore the possibility of creating a dialogue between the binary opposition between the oral discourse and written discourse and between female piety and male-dominant religious world represented respectively by Margery Kempe and the priest-scribe.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgement......i
Chinese Abstract......ii
English Abstract......iii
Introduction......1
Chapter One:Negotiating a Space for Margery Kempe’s Piety......16
Christian Mysticism and Female Piety in the Middle Ages
Pierre Bourdieu's Notion of Habitus and the Female Piety
Kempe's Piety and the Community of King's Lynn 
Kempe's Negotiation with the Secular and Religious Authorities

Chapter Two:The Performance of Imitations and the Construction of the Self......39
Judith Butler's Theory of Performantivity and the Motif of Imitatio
The Imitation of Christ in The Book
The Female Image of Christ and Imitation of the Virgin Mary
Universal Motherhood and the Construction of the Self

Chapter Three: Margery Kempe and the Scribes in The Book......60
Author and Authorship in the Middle Ages
The Collaborative Writing of the Scribes and Kempe
Voice and Language

Conclusion......80
Works Cited......86

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