Mystical texts often present themselves as possessing a “donative” intent, in which the writer aims to share the significance of their own experience. This dissertation will show how a consideration of donative intent and its textual results can enrich the study of medieval and early-modern mystical writings, approaching them from the broad concept of triangular mimetic desire in conjunction with other theoretical insights in order to examine the methods through which writers seek to portray their mediator-object relationship with God and inspire reading subjects’ mimetic desire.
I will elucidate Richard Rolle’s portrayal of his mediatorial purpose and unique experiences, and how his language and stylistic choices communicate the overwhelming and displacing aspects of these events, while bringing about a reading experience that is in its own way overwhelming and displacing. Julian of Norwich, I will demonstrate, undertakes a hermeneutic of identification conflating mediator and subjects while presenting elements of divine-human identification. She portrays a positive mimetic triangle enabled by its divine object. Richard Crashaw presents a unique derivative donative intent, portraying in his Teresan poems Teresa of Avila as mediator and her mediator-object relationship. His stylistic choices serve these portrayals, providing a reading experience aesthetically analogous to Teresa’s experiences of the divine. He portrays responding subjects within the poems to suggest the response of triangular mimetic desire.
These analyses will involve a unique synthesis of elements from phenomenology, theology, historical studies, and stylistics, validating the use of hybridized approaches in elucidating the underlying intentions and representational elements of mystical texts.
","abstract_html":"<p>Mystical texts often present themselves as possessing a “donative” intent, in which the writer aims to share the significance of their own experience. This dissertation will show how a consideration of donative intent and its textual results can enrich the study of medieval and early-modern mystical writings, approaching them from the broad concept of triangular mimetic desire in conjunction with other theoretical insights in order to examine the methods through which writers seek to portray their mediator-object relationship with God and inspire reading subjects’ mimetic desire.</p> <p>I will elucidate Richard Rolle’s portrayal of his mediatorial purpose and unique experiences, and how his language and stylistic choices communicate the overwhelming and displacing aspects of these events, while bringing about a reading experience that is in its own way overwhelming and displacing. Julian of Norwich, I will demonstrate, undertakes a hermeneutic of identification conflating mediator and subjects while presenting elements of divine-human identification. She portrays a positive mimetic triangle enabled by its divine object. Richard Crashaw presents a unique derivative donative intent, portraying in his Teresan poems Teresa of Avila as mediator and her mediator-object relationship. His stylistic choices serve these portrayals, providing a reading experience aesthetically analogous to Teresa’s experiences of the divine. He portrays responding subjects within the poems to suggest the response of triangular mimetic desire.</p> <p>These analyses will involve a unique synthesis of elements from phenomenology, theology, historical studies, and stylistics, validating the use of hybridized approaches in elucidating the underlying intentions and representational elements of mystical texts.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Geitgey, Steven"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"PhD","degree_level":"One-year Embargo","degree_discipline":"English","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Sarah Breckenridge Wright","Danielle A. St. Hilaire","Sarah Miller"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2020,"date_issued":"2020-12-18T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2020-12-18T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:10:58Z","subjects":["Rolle","Julian","Norwich","Crashaw","Donative","Mystical","Desire","Mimetic","Medieval","Mediator","English Language and Literature"],"languages":["English"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/1933","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Sarah Breckenridge Wright","Danielle A. St. Hilaire","Sarah Miller"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Geitgey, Steven"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2021-12-18T08:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["English"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["One-year Embargo"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["PhD"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Rolle","Julian","Norwich","Crashaw","Donative","Mystical","Desire","Mimetic","Medieval","Mediator","English Language and Literature"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["English"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/1933"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Mystical texts often present themselves as possessing a “donative” intent, in which the writer aims to share the significance of their own experience. This dissertation will show how a consideration of donative intent and its textual results can enrich the study of medieval and early-modern mystical writings, approaching them from the broad concept of triangular mimetic desire in conjunction with other theoretical insights in order to examine the methods through which writers seek to portray their mediator-object relationship with God and inspire reading subjects’ mimetic desire.
I will elucidate Richard Rolle’s portrayal of his mediatorial purpose and unique experiences, and how his language and stylistic choices communicate the overwhelming and displacing aspects of these events, while bringing about a reading experience that is in its own way overwhelming and displacing. Julian of Norwich, I will demonstrate, undertakes a hermeneutic of identification conflating mediator and subjects while presenting elements of divine-human identification. She portrays a positive mimetic triangle enabled by its divine object. Richard Crashaw presents a unique derivative donative intent, portraying in his Teresan poems Teresa of Avila as mediator and her mediator-object relationship. His stylistic choices serve these portrayals, providing a reading experience aesthetically analogous to Teresa’s experiences of the divine. He portrays responding subjects within the poems to suggest the response of triangular mimetic desire.
These analyses will involve a unique synthesis of elements from phenomenology, theology, historical studies, and stylistics, validating the use of hybridized approaches in elucidating the underlying intentions and representational elements of mystical texts.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["“That Those Hearing or Reading Might Strive to Imitate”: Donative Intent, Positive Triangular Mimetic Desire, and the Portrayal of the Mediator-Divine (non)Object Relationship in Richard Rolle, Julian of Norwich, and Richard Crashaw"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Sarah Breckenridge Wright","Danielle A. St. Hilaire","Sarah Miller"],"dc:creator":["Geitgey, Steven"],"dc:date.available":["2021-12-18T08:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Mystical texts often present themselves as possessing a “donative” intent, in which the writer aims to share the significance of their own experience. This dissertation will show how a consideration of donative intent and its textual results can enrich the study of medieval and early-modern mystical writings, approaching them from the broad concept of triangular mimetic desire in conjunction with other theoretical insights in order to examine the methods through which writers seek to portray their mediator-object relationship with God and inspire reading subjects’ mimetic desire.
I will elucidate Richard Rolle’s portrayal of his mediatorial purpose and unique experiences, and how his language and stylistic choices communicate the overwhelming and displacing aspects of these events, while bringing about a reading experience that is in its own way overwhelming and displacing. Julian of Norwich, I will demonstrate, undertakes a hermeneutic of identification conflating mediator and subjects while presenting elements of divine-human identification. She portrays a positive mimetic triangle enabled by its divine object. Richard Crashaw presents a unique derivative donative intent, portraying in his Teresan poems Teresa of Avila as mediator and her mediator-object relationship. His stylistic choices serve these portrayals, providing a reading experience aesthetically analogous to Teresa’s experiences of the divine. He portrays responding subjects within the poems to suggest the response of triangular mimetic desire.
These analyses will involve a unique synthesis of elements from phenomenology, theology, historical studies, and stylistics, validating the use of hybridized approaches in elucidating the underlying intentions and representational elements of mystical texts.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/1933"],"dc:language":["English"],"dc:subject":["Rolle","Julian","Norwich","Crashaw","Donative","Mystical","Desire","Mimetic","Medieval","Mediator","English Language and Literature"],"dc:title":["“That Those Hearing or Reading Might Strive to Imitate”: Donative Intent, Positive Triangular Mimetic Desire, and the Portrayal of the Mediator-Divine (non)Object Relationship in Richard Rolle, Julian of Norwich, and Richard Crashaw"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["English"],"thesis:degree_level":["One-year Embargo"],"thesis:degree_name":["PhD"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:10:58Z"}