Mechthild von Magdeburg: Selections from The Flowing Light of the Godhead. Translated from the Middle High German with Introduction, Notes, and Interpretive Essay by Elizabeth A. Andersen. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2003. Pp. (6) + 170. $70.

Elizabeth A. Andersen rightly notes in the introduction to her translation of selections from Das Fließende Licht der Gottheit that Mechthild von Magdeburg's work deserves to be better known in the English-speaking world. Andersen's selections are intended "to offer the reader pathways through a text that is, on first acquaintance, confusing in its heterogeneity and diversity" (p. 17). To this end, the translation includes chapters in which salient themes such as the union of the soul with God or visionary visitations to heaven, paradise, purgatory, and hell occur. The chapters chosen are also intended to "reflect both the rich diversity of register and discourse woven into the texture of Mechthild's writings" (p. 17). The selections from each book—there are seven—are preceded by a short introduction summarizing and characterizing the content.

Marianne E. Kalinke
The University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign