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Saint Teresa (1515-1582) is widely considered one of the greatest mystics and woman reformers of the Renaissance. Author Cathleen Medwick (a former editor at
Vanity Fair and
Mirabella) clearly invested an enormous amount of research into this impressive biography of a brazen and complicated woman. Although she broke many of the social rules for nuns and even women of her day (for instance, she slept under the stars, traveled at whim, and spoke her mind freely), it was her ecstatic raptures that made her so controversial. "Sometimes she dropped to the floor and was frozen in position for hours, unable to speak," writes Medwick. "At other times she conversed with God directly, a dangerous practice, the Inquisition often having its ear to the door." Readers will find a fascinating character in this fully flawed and charismatic Spanish saint. More delightfully, readers will appreciate Medwick's strong narration and sense of story that sustains us through Teresa's trials and tribulations--and expertly leads us to her final rapture.
--Gail Hudson
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From Publishers Weekly
A fascination with what she calls the "journey" of the 16th-century Spanish saint sustains Medwick's disappointing biography of Teresa of Avila. The saint was both a profound searcher of the self who succumbed to rapturous interludes and a harried organization freak who struggled to bring about her vision of cloistered community while buffeted by illness and accusations. Medwick, a former editor for Vogue and Vanity Fair, rightly characterizes Teresa as "a daughter of the church," but her laudatory effort to situate her subject in the religious culture of contemporary Spain falls short of its objective. Medwick's Teresa is domesticated and ahistorical, disconnected from the world in which she lived. Medwick eschews analysis for summary, resulting in a rather superficial portrait of the saint. Far too often, also, it is unclear whose voice we are hearing, Medwick's or Teresa's. Unfortunately, the "journey" that Medwick recounts here is far less complex and penetrating than Teresa's actual one, as revealed by her life and writings. (Dec.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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