Through the Narrow Gate: A Nun's Story

Description

Karen Armstrong gives an account of her experiences as a Roman Catholic nun. She describes her childhood, her progress at school and her admission into the order of St Ignatius in 1962 and - via Oxford University and an English literature degree - out of it again seven years later. She depicts a brutal and medieval convent system prior to reform by the Second Vatican Council, where postulates had to erase their sense of self in order to be worthy as a bride of Christ. To achieve this, the sisters were forbidden to have friendships, were prohibited from speaking for 22 hours a day, had to undergo self-denunciation sessions in front of the other members of the convent, use scourges to dampen sexual desires and endure clothing, food and accommodation virtually unchanged since the dark ages. What began as Armstrong's desire for discipline and self-mastery rapidly became an assault on every aspect of her individuality. Exhausted by guilt, frustrations and loneliness, she slid first into anorexia and then into complete mental and physical collapse. Finally she obtained a place at Oxford University, and her reintegration into the world began.

Karen Armstrong was born in Worcestershire. After becoming a nun in the 1960s, she left her order and lectured in literature at London University before becoming a full time writer, broadcaster and international adviser on religious and political affairs. A regular columnist for the Guardian, her books include A History of God, The Gospel According to Women, The Battle for God, Islam: A Short History, Through the Narrow Gate, her memoir A Spiral Staircase and A Short History of Myth: The Great Transformation and Buddha. Her work has been translated into forty languages. Karen Armstrong is also the author of three television documentaries. In 1999 she was awarded the Muslim Public Affairs Council Media Award and she was recently awarded a First Decoration of Art and Literature by the Egyptian Government - the first Western woman to be given this award. Since 11 September 2001 she has been a frequent contributor to conferences, panels, newspapers and periodicals on both sides of the Atlantic on the subject of Islam and fundamentalism. She has twice addressed members of the United States Congress, was one of three scholars to speak in the United Nations in the first session ever devoted to religion in that body, and has also been invited to advise members of the Canadian parliament on relations with the Islamic world. In June 2002, she gave the keynote address at the annual convention of the American Muslim Council, and is currently involved in a major project to develop an intellectually strong and pluralistic American Islam with leading members of the Muslim community. She lives in London.

'This articulate and sensitive writer spares no punches in her account of the agonising fight to find herself under the weight of rules and expectations, lies and aggression... Through the Narrow Gate is written as racily and as emotionally as a novel... the picture of convent life is vivid and terrifying.' Good Housekeeping. 'Painful and honest... Karen Armstrong's simple account of her struggles - both in pursuit of that self-death that the true religious craves and, later, against her unconscious rejection of life in an ultra-strict Order - says a great deal about destructive trends in modern life... A very moving book.' Daily Telegraph 'Seldom has a story of personal inspiration and tragedy radiated such warmth, freshness and candour... As beautifully recounted as it is heart-rending.' Irish Press The strength of this unself-pitying chronicle is the author's capacity to convey the overwhelming attraction of the life she sought, even as she documents its shattering effect on the human personality... A scrupulous record of one woman's spiritual journey, excellently written and profoundly moving.' Cosmopolitan