Sarah and returning guest Tracy Tanoff delve into the everyday lives of nuns in our conversation on Lauren Groff’s novel Matrix. Join us as we explore the work of Marie de France, illness and disability in monasteries, faith and mysticism, and the real stories of queer nuns through a discussion of Groff’s 2021 novel. 



CW for reference to sexual assault (not graphic)

Read the novel Matrix by Lauren Groff: https://bookshop.org/p/books/matrix-lauren-groff/16278801?ean=9781594634505 Check out a take from another medievalist, past guest Lucy Barnhouse, on this book: https://nursingclio.org/2021/12/09/matrix-lauren-groffs-visions-of-the-medieval/ Learn more about medieval women’s and gender history in Judith Bennett’s book History Matters: Patriarchy and the Challenge of Feminism: https://bookshop.org/p/books/history-matters-patriarchy-and-the-challenge-of-feminism-judith-m-bennett/12488103?ean=9780812220049 Learn more about lesbians in the Middle Ages: Jacqueline Murray, “Twice Marginal and Twice Invisible: Lesbians in the Middle Ages,” in The Handbook of Medieval Sexuality, ed. by Vern L. Bullough and James A. Brundage. Garland Publishing, 1996, pp. 191-222.

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Twitter: twitter.com/mediaevalpodE-mail: [email protected] Tracy on BlueSky: haveloved