SOURCE: "Julian of Norwich: Writer and Mystic" in An Introduction to Medieval Mystics of Europe, edited by Paul E. Szarmach, State University of New York Press, 1984, pp. 195-216.

In the essay that follows, Bradley places Julian's writings within the context of the traditions of Christian mysticism and the canon of English literature.

Julian of Norwich is the first known woman of letters in English literature, and one is hard-put to find prose superior to hers in the Middle English period. She belongs, by right, to the mainstream of studies in literature and culture. This survey article undertakes to show that Julian deserves to be rated as a distinguished prose stylist and recognized as a gifted mystic. In support of this reading and in the light of emerging scholarship, I will examine Julian's Showings, first looking for its literary qualities, and then to its ideas and the account of...