The Life of Saint Katherine of Alexandria

Karen A. Winstead is professor of English at the Ohio State University.

"Karen Winstead has been helping develop our appreciation of the genre of saints' lives for some time now, so her discussion of how Capgrave's Life fits into the tradition as well as how it breaks with convention is enlightening. . . . There is much to encourage further thought and exploration for both novice and experienced scholars." -Sixteenth Century Journal "Words fail me to extol the excellence of this little volume, or to commend with suitable praise the decision of the modern translator to render what she aptly calls 'the cluttered style of this rambling narration,' by its medieval author, John Capgrave, who was an Augustinian friar of King's Lynn in the mid-fifteenth century." -The Heythrop Journal "Following her 1999 edition of Capgrave's Middle English Life of Saint Katherine, Winstead here translates the Middle English rhyme royal verse into modern English prose, to surprisingly good effect. She has managed to capture the stylistic quirks of Capgrave's verse in a prose that makes his Life of Saint Katherine of Alexandria read with all the excitement of a popular novel." -Choice "This is the first translation in idiomatic modern English, which reads smoothly and seamlessly. . . . This is a welcome resource." -Magistra: A Journal of Women's Spirituality in History "Capgrave's work deserves a larger audience than it currently has. The Life of Saint Katherine of Alexandria is a lively and amusing work that intersects with many aspects of late medieval culture and history: it addresses important questions related to gender, theology, pedagogy, family relations, religious institutions, and political power. I can envision many uses for Winstead's translation in the contemporary college and university classroom." -Theresa Coletti, University of Maryland "Karen A. Winstead's translation of Capgrave's Life of Saint Katherine is extremely well done. The text is elegantly simple, nuanced, and serious in tone; graced as well with an excellent introduction and complete bibliography of Katherine materials, Winstead's edition is sure to inspire students to pursue further studies in Middle English." -Maura Nolan, University of California, Berkeley