Audiobook · read by volunteers
Revelations of Divine Love
Julian of Norwich (1342–1416)
Read by David Barnes · 86 chapters · 7 h 20
About the book
In May 1373, during a severe illness, an English woman believed to be dying received a series of sixteen visions of Christ’s Passion and the love of God. She recovered, spent the following decades reflecting on what she had seen, and wrote it down. The result is the Revelations of Divine Love, believed to be the first book in English written by a woman, and one of the most beloved works of Christian mysticism. Julian of Norwich writes with a gentle clarity that has kept readers returning for six hundred years. Her message is one of trust: that love is God’s meaning, that sin is not the last word, and that, as she says in her best-known phrase, all shall be well. This recording reads Grace Warrack’s English version in eighty-six short chapters. A quiet and moving companion for contemplative moments.
Introduction
Julian of Norwich is thought to have been born in about 1342 and to have died around 1416. Very little is known of her life apart from her writings. Even her name is uncertain, since Julian comes from the Church of St Julian in Norwich, where she lived as an anchoress, a person who withdraws from the world for a life of prayer in a small cell attached to a church.
The Revelations of Divine Love records a set of visions she experienced during a grave illness, together with her long reflections on them. It exists in a shorter and a longer version, the second of which reflects many years of thought. It is regarded as one of the greatest works of English mysticism and, remarkably, as the first book in the English language known to have been written by a woman. Its optimism and tenderness have made it a favourite with readers of many different Christian traditions and beyond.
The translation read here is by Grace Warrack, whose modernised English edition appeared at the start of the twentieth century. It follows the longer version of the text, which is usually dated to around 1393, some twenty years after the visions themselves.
The recording is divided into eighty-six short chapters and lasts about seven hours and twenty minutes. It is read by David Barnes. Because the chapters are brief, the book lends itself to being heard a few at a time, perhaps at the end of the day, and it will reward anyone interested in medieval spirituality, women’s writing or the history of English prose.
Public domain
Julian of Norwich died in 1416: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text