The Permeable Self

Reviews / Votes

"This thorough work will be indispensable to those interested in the complexities of the interpersonal in the medieval period, and how the foundations and lexicon of Christian theology influenced the ways in which individuals thought of themselves and their connections to others. Newman's readings of those connections are fascinating and thought-provoking, not least because they hint at the ways we are all still vulnerable to one another; there is a familiarity pulsing beneath all of that alterity...Newman's pedagogical gift is in presenting all of those seemingly strange medieval relationships in such a way that they reach across the centuries into our individual bodies and minds, tuning them to the frequency of their own peculiar connections." (Times Literary Supplement) "As Barbara Newman shows in her brilliant book, medieval Christians understood themselves to be interconnected to an extent that would surprise many people today, at least in Western cultures. Their minds and hearts were legible to other people as well as to God and the devil, and they saw themselves as vulnerable to interference from human and supernatural forces, to both good and bad ends....The stories Newman tells reveal the profound strangeness of the Middle Ages....As Newman notes at the end of her study, it's hard to determine the more vital ethical imperative: to protect ourselves by raising boundaries, or to accept how intertwined we really are." (London Review of Books) "In The Permeable Self, Barbara Newman not only offers insightful readings of a different theory of mind than one we know today, but also provides an inspiring way to think about the meaningful contributions that academic work in the humanities can offer...Her exploration of how medieval Western culture initially imagined and informed itself through a very different theory of mind, accompanied by frequent references to contemporary echoes of this powerful tradition, invites readers to become reacquainted with a way of living in the world that offers different kinds of valuable possibilities than our cultural training constrains us to expect." (Literature and Theology) "Fascinating in its very subject, The Permeable Self is yet another demonstration-not that any were needed-of Newman's exquisite critical eye. Beautifully argued, outstandingly copyedited, and deeply learned, it is a study likely both to inspire powerful responses and hold the attention of scholars for many years to come." (Journal of English and Germanic Philology) "The Permeable Self is of high quality and based on years of research and expertise. It is intellectually stimulating and thought provoking. To echo Newman herself, the study of medieval relationships haswide applications-ranging from new scholarly approaches to, for example, the study of emotions as well as to an alternative theory of mind. This is a book worth reading." (Speculum) "Essential...In keen and insightful close readings, [Newman] makes a compelling case for the importance, to the medieval self, of the concept of coinherence, of 'being-within-one-another'...Newman weaves together a wealth of research from literature, letters, folklore, and historical documents, meticulously contextualizing each relationship. The discussion of ways in which variations of coinherence intersect in saints lives is particularly rich and an exciting contribution to the study of hagiography....For researchers of medieval studies, this is required reading, but there is much here for anyone studying ideas of self and personhood." (Choice) "Barbara Newman's The Permeable Self takes readers on a journey that explores the inner workings of extremely complex human and symbolic relationships. Centered on the concepts of coinherence and indwelling, her book ranges widely from topics like saintly telepathy, the exchange of hearts, and childbirth to the demonic invasion of human bodies. The common thread is humans' permeability, their openness to both good and evil others. In clear, accessible, and often witty prose, Newman provides extraordinary insights into the medieval psyche." (Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski, author of The Strange Case of Ermine de Reims: A Medieval Woman Between Demons and Saints) "Charles Taylor has contrasted the 'buffered self' of a secular age to the 'porous self' of other ages. In The Permeable Self Barbara Newman fleshes out medieval understandings of porous personhood in fascinating detail, supplementing, but also correcting, Taylor's influential account. Her many insights about medieval personhood have profound relevance to debates about the intersubjectivity of modern liberalism and postmodernism's liquid selves." (Ryan McDermott, University of Pittsburgh) "The Permeable Self is a brilliant exploration of medieval ways of imagining mind and body. Teaching, love, pregnancy, and mental illness look startlingly different when people take for granted that thoughts can enter other bodies directly. That in turn should push readers to ask how modern assumptions shape modern experience in ways so fundamental we may not notice them. One of the most fascinating books I have read this year." (T. M. Luhrmann, author of How God Becomes Real: Kindling the Presence of Invisible Others)