Daily Martyrdom and the Suffering Feminine Body: Discourses of Female Asceticism in Late Antique Christianity

最近的学术工作重新评估了苦难的基督教身体的写照及其在古代晚期文学中的表现。然而，对苦难话语的批判性研究几乎完全集中在殉道学的来源上，实际上忽略了苦行文学的重要主体，其中苦难的叙述也很突出。为了解决学术工作中的这一差距，我建议调查四世纪和五世纪基督教话语中女性苦行僧身体痛苦的文本纪念。肉体上的痛苦并不是英雄殉道者的专属，事实上，苦行僧文学将苦行僧的痛苦描绘成生动的，怪诞的，经常是令人震惊的关于他们苦行僧主角腐烂的肉体，疾病和腐烂的描述。这种不流血的或每日的殉难被纪念、证实和延续，通过放置在救赎和历史的元叙事中，利用经文和历史先例。通过关注女性苦行僧的痛苦及其在这一框架内的位置之间的关系，我旨在为我们对超越殉道领域和超越迫害的殉道领域的肉体表演的理解提供新的视角。

Recent scholarly work has re-evaluated the portrayal of the suffering Christian body and its representation in literature of Late Antiquity. Yet critical study of discourses of suffering have focused almost solely on martyrological sources, virtually ignoring the significant body of ascetic literature in which narratives of suffering are also prominent. To address this gap in scholarly work, I propose to investigate the textual commemoration of corporeal suffering of female ascetics in fourth and fifth century Christian discourse. Corporeal suffering was not the sole preserve of the heroic martyr, indeed ascetic literature located suffering in graphic, grotesque and often shocking descriptions of rotting flesh, illness and putrefaction of their ascetic protagonists. This bloodless or daily martyrdom wascommemorated, authenticated and perpetuated, through placement within a metanarrative of salvation and history using recourse to scripture and historical precedents. By focusing on the relationship between female ascetic suffering and its placement within this framework, I aim to shed new light on ourunderstanding of corporeal performances beyond the field of martyrdom and of martyrdom beyond persecution.