Abstract

The dissertation examines the constitution of the self in the writing of John Donne and focuses on the difficulties of reading subjectivity. In particular, I examine how Donne employs the Augustinian conversion narrative as an interpretive paradigm. Drawing upon the Augustinian tradition, Donne conceives of the self as a text to be construed and constructed; however, for Donne, this book is also a body. The "stigmate" or fever spots he attempts to read and redeem in the Devotions, for example, are literally the text of his confessions. ;Donne's interest in the production of texts and selves converges upon the problems of interpreting bodily signs. These inscribed bodies and fleshly words provoke a reassessment of the Augustinian paradigm where to read is to see or unveil. I argue that for Donne to read is to encounter the Word as absolute alterity, often thematized as a confrontation with the figural "female" ground of language. This encounter ultimately revises conversion's paradigm of interpretation and rewrites the subject. In turn, Donne's revision of reading and the subject provides a new account of the body and of late Renaissance culture