Teresa of Ávila  

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"I would see beside me, on my left hand, an angel in bodily form ... " --Teresa of Ávila

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Saint Teresa of Ávila (1515 – 1582) was a Spanish mystic and writer. French intellectuals such as Georges Bataille, Jacques Lacan, Marie Bonaparte and Pierre Klossowski were the first to note that the religious ecstasy of St. Theresa of Avila is indistinguishable visually, and in the written word from that of an orgasm.

Writings

Teresa's writings, produced for didactic purposes, stand among the most remarkable in the mystical literature of the Catholic Church:

  • The "Autobiography," written before 1567, under the direction of her confessor, Fr Pedro Ibáñez;
  • " El Camino de Perfección," written also before 1567, at the direction of her confessor;
  • "Meditations on Song of Songs," 1567, written nominally for her daughters at the convent of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
  • "El Castillo Interior," written in 1577;
  • "Relaciones," an extension of the autobiography giving her inner and outer experiences in epistolary form.
  • Two smaller works are the "Conceptos del Amor" ("Concepts of Love") and "Exclamaciones." In addition, there are "Las Cartas" (Saragossa, 1671), or her correspondence, of which there are 342 extant letters and 87 fragments of others. St Teresa's prose is marked by an unaffected grace, an ornate neatness, and charming power of expression, together placing her in the front rank of Spanish prose writers; and her rare poems ("Todas las poesías," Munster, 1854) are distinguished for tenderness of feeling and rhythm of thought.

Portrayals




Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Teresa of Ávila" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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