Between Medieval Men: Male Friendship and Desire in Early Medieval English Literature

Author:   David Clark (Lecturer in Old English, University of Leicester)
Publisher:   Oxford University Press
ISBN:  

9780199671175


Pages:   248
Publication Date:   28 February 2013
Format:   Paperback
Availability:   To order   Availability explained
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Between Medieval Men: Male Friendship and Desire in Early Medieval English Literature


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Overview

Between Medieval Men argues for the importance of synoptically examining the whole range of same-sex relations in the Anglo-Saxon period, revisiting well-known texts and issues (as well as material often considered marginal) from a radically different perspective. The introductory chapters first lay out the premises underlying the book and its critical context, then emphasise the need to avoid modern cultural assumptions about both male-female and male-male relationships, and underline the paramount place of homosocial bonds in Old English literature. Part II then investigates the construction of and attitudes to same-sex acts and identities in ethnographic, penitential, and theological texts, ranging widely throughout the Old English corpus and drawing on Classical, Medieval Latin, and Old Norse material. Part III expands the focus to homosocial bonds in Old English literature in order to explore the range of associations for same-sex intimacy and their representation in literary texts such as Genesis A, Beowulf, The Battle of Maldon, The Dream of the Rood, The Phoenix, and Ælfric's Lives of Saints. During the course of the book's argument, David Clark uncovers several under-researched issues and suggests fruitful approaches for their investigation. He concludes that, in omitting to ask certain questions of Anglo-Saxon material, in being too willing to accept the status quo indicated by the extant corpus, in uncritically importing invisible (because normative) heterosexist assumptions in our reading, we risk misrepresenting the diversity and complexity that a more nuanced approach to issues of gender and sexuality suggests may be more genuinely characteristic of the period.

Full Product Details

Author:   David Clark (Lecturer in Old English, University of Leicester)
Publisher:   Oxford University Press
Imprint:   Oxford University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.50cm , Height: 1.40cm , Length: 23.40cm
Weight:   0.366kg
ISBN:  

9780199671175


ISBN 10:   0199671176
Pages:   248
Publication Date:   28 February 2013
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order   Availability explained
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.

Table of Contents

Part I - Introductory Introduction 1: A Fine Romance? Wulf and Eadwacer, The Wife's Lament, and The Husband's Message Part II - Same-sex Acts and Identities 2: Germanic pederasty: the evidence of the Classical ethnographers 3: Attitudes to same-sex acts in Anglo-Saxon England: earg, the penitentials, and OE baedling 4: The changing face of Sodom, part I: the Latin tradition 5: The changing face of Sodom, part II: the vernacular tradition Part III - Homosocial Bonds in OE Literature 6: Destructive desire: sexual themes and same-sex relations in Genesis A 7: Heroic desire? Male relations in Beowulf, Maldon, and The Dream of the Rood 8: Monastic sexuality and same-sex procreation in The Phoenix 9: Saintly desire: same-sex relations in Ælfric's Lives of Saints 10: Unorthodox desire: the Anonymous Life of Euphrosyne and the Colloquies of Ælfric Bata

Reviews

<br> Demonstrates qualities of scrupulous scholarship and careful thinking about difficult historical problems together with an alert sense of literary implications -- A.S.G Edwards, Times Literary Supplement<p><br> Smart, elegant and ambitious -- Robert Mills, Times Higher Education Supplement<p><br> A sober, penetrating and comprehensive study of Anglo-Saxon literature...Clark's scholarly acumen waves like a banner above the whole project...This is an impressive book by any standard, written by an equally impressive scholar. -- Bill Burgwinkle, Review of English Studies<p><br> [An] important study. --Gender & History<p><br>


Author Information

David Clark is Lecturer in Old English at the University of Leicester.

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