Essayists in this collection break down the vital relationship between reading and space in medieval culture. A variety of approaches are employed to discuss the topic including literary analysis and contemporary film and architectural theory, in turn, complicating the notion of the stable, fixed text and reader.

Practicing shame explores how the literature of medieval England encouraged women to secure their honour by cultivating hypervigilance against shame. The book transforms our understanding of the construction of femininity in the past and offers a new framework for thinking about honourable womanhood now and in the years to come. -- .