The Medieval Church · c. 1283
Blanquerna
Ramon Llull · c. 1232–c. 1316
What it is
A young man rises from hermit to abbot to bishop to pope, reforms the whole church, and then resigns to become a contemplative — with the Book of the Lover and the Beloved embedded in it.
Why it lasted
One of the first novels in a European vernacular, and its embedded book of three hundred and sixty-five aphorisms is a mystical classic in its own right.
Where to read it
This work is in the public domain and can be read in full, free, at the archives below. The Library catalogues it; it does not host the text.
These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.
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