The Medieval Sinner: Characterization and Confession in the Literature of the English Middle Ages.

Author/Editor
Braswell, Mary Flowers

Title
The Medieval Sinner: Characterization and Confession in the Literature of the English Middle Ages.

Published
Braswell, Mary Flowers. "The Medieval Sinner: Characterization and Confession in the Literature of the English Middle Ages." London and Toronto: Associated University Presses, 1983 ISBN 0838631177

Review
Braswell's concern is the penitential tradition in history, theology, and literature. In chapter 3, she points out that Gower "selected as a framework the confessional itself, based the character of Genius on that of the model confessor, and put Amans in the position of the 'the learner' (the penitent)." Braswell then investigates Gower's use of penitential manuals, to show how the structure and content of these manuals influenced the structure of his work. Much of the dialogue between Genius and Amans parallels the questions and answers found in mid-fourteenth century penitential namuals. [PN. Copyright the John Gower Society. JGN 5.1]

Date
1983

Gower Subjects
Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations
Confessio Amantis