Between holiness and histery: the writing processes of Teresa of Ávila

Abstract

Teresa of Ávila (1515-1582) relates in an intriguing way her relationship with the letters: at the same time that the penalty is heavy and robs her of the time she could spend at the São José Monastery, which she had just reformed, it is also light, being a way of prayer and an encounter with the Beloved, God. The dichotomy existing in the craft of letters is a reflection of a conflict that surpassed Teresa’s wishes and desires and proved her obedience to the authorities. Priests, confessors, theologians and philosophers - mostly men - searched the Carmelite’s thought while she was still alive, in an attempt to examine every detail of her mystical experience, looking for demonic references. The poetic writing, which was once a pleasure, became fear under the harsh gaze of the Spanish Inquisition (1478), stamped on the prose writings that the nun was forced to write. No longer from the masculine and inquisitive view of the time, but in the light of contemporary discussions of literature made by women, would the writing processes of a 16th century woman be mystical or hysterical?