Confession and Resistance: Defining the Self in Late Medieval England. By Katherine C. Little. Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 2006. Pp. viii + 196. $27.50 (paper).

Katherine C. Little mainly argues in this brief but wide-ranging study "that the Wycliffites and the controversy they engendered in the medieval period should be understood in terms of the history and the sources of the self" (p. 1). "Can" would probably be more appropriate than "should" here, but Little immediately qualifies: "that is, Wycliffite writings challenge orthodoxy not only in terms of doctrine (their position on the Eucharist, for example) but also by reforming the language given to church members to understand and speak about themselves; throughout their writings, the Lollards demonstrate a concern with both the language and the practices through which the self is shaped and encouraged" (p. 1).

Christina von Nolcken
University of Chicago