“The Mouth of the Holy Desire”. Metaphorical Expressions of Desire in the Mystic Language of St. Catherine of Siena
Abstract
The goal of the paper is twofold: to outline the problems of the language of mystics in the light of linguistic research and a detailed analysis of the metaphorical expressions of the holy desire in the mystic language of St. Catherine of Sienna. The linguistic research on mystics were initiated in a more methodical way by J. Baruzi (1931), and were synthetically elaborated by G. Pozzi (1988). Having discussed the specific semantic of the words in mystic discourse, an analysis of the expressions of the holy desire is presented. It confirms that the linguistic sign is anchored in mystical experience, and the mystic’s discourse has a specific character with its own dynamism and narration, and its respective didactic goal. The paper also shows literary values of the mystical texts, being part of literature on spirituality.
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