Kuhns, Elizabeth

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KUHNS, Elizabeth

PERSONAL: Female.

ADDRESSES: Agent—c/o Author Mail, Random House, 1745 Broadway, New York, NY 10019.

CAREER: Worked for Book-of-the-Month Club and New Hamphsire Humanities Council.

WRITINGS:

The Habit: A History of the Clothing of Catholic Nuns, Doubleday (New York, NY), 2003.

Contributor to Faith & Family: The Magazine of Catholic Living.

SIDELIGHTS: Raised a protestant in Baltimore, Elizabeh Kuhns later converted to Catholicism and eventually became a freelance writer primarily interested in Catholic traditions. With The Habit: A History of the Clothing of Catholic Nuns, she provides the first English-language book devoted to the topic of how nuns dress. Delving into the history of the habit, Kuhns points out that for early Christian women "the act of changing clothes was the act of religious profession by those who aspired to holiness," as Rachelle Linner explained in National Catholic Reporter.

What began as an essentially unregulated choice of garments based on the clothing of the poor by early Christian women eventually became a symbol of obedience and devotion to Jesus Christ. Ultimately the various habits would lay the foundation for the unique identities of various Christian religious congregations and orders. Kuhn explains in detail how the different orders came from different social strata and chose their membership from a predetermined social group. In addition to discussing the symbolic aspects of habits, Kuhns explains the basics of a nun's garment, including the coif, cincture, coronet, and cap. She also describes the tedious, hard work required of each nun to maintain her habit, such as the laborious need for pin tucking and pleating. A Publishers Weekly contributor commented that Kuhns had produced "a deftly written introductory chapter" but that the rest of the book largely "sorts dutifully through too much history, without a clear story line to keep the reader's interest." Writing in the Library Journal, Anna M. Donnelly called the book a "readable overview" and noted that Kuhns "evenhandedly offers historical context and careful explanations for the evolution of dress." In a review in the Women's Review of Books, Susanne Boitano wrote that "The Habit peels back stereotypes to expose real nuns, showing that as the habit concealed the body, it revealed the soul." Linner further commented that Kuhn's "reporter's eye and ear make her an adept narrator" as evidenced by the book's "crisp vignettes."