The Erotic in the Literature of Medieval Britain

The Erotic in the Literature of Medieval Britain
Author: Amanda Hopkins
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Total Pages: 196
Release: 2007
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1843841193

An examination of the erotic in medieval literature which includes articles on the role of clothing and nudity, the tension between eroticism and transgression and religion and the erotic.

Sexual Culture in the Literature of Medieval Britain

Sexual Culture in the Literature of Medieval Britain
Author: Amanda Hopkins
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Ltd
Total Pages: 194
Release: 2014
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 184384379X

An examination into aspects of the sexual as depicted in a variety of medieval texts, from Chaucer and Malory to romance and alchemical treatises.

Obscene Pedagogies

Obscene Pedagogies
Author: Carissa M. Harris
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Total Pages: 201
Release: 2018-12-15
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1501730428

In Obscene Pedagogies, Carissa M. Harris investigates the relationship between obscenity, gender, and pedagogy in Middle English and Middle Scots literary texts from 1300 to 1580 to show how sexually explicit and defiantly vulgar speech taught readers and listeners about sexual behavior and consent. Through innovative close readings of literary texts including erotic lyrics, single-woman's songs, debate poems between men and women, Scottish insult poetry battles, and The Canterbury Tales, Harris demonstrates how through its transgressive charge and galvanizing shock value, obscenity taught audiences about gender, sex, pleasure, and power in ways both positive and harmful. Harris's own voice, proudly witty and sharply polemical, inspires the reader to address these medieval texts with an eye on contemporary issues of gender, violence, and misogyny.

The Fires of Lust

The Fires of Lust
Author: Katherine Harvey
Publisher: Reaktion Books
Total Pages: 297
Release: 2022-11-28
Genre: History
ISBN: 1789144884

An illuminating exploration of the surprisingly familiar sex lives of ordinary medieval people. The medieval humoral system of medicine suggested that it was possible to die from having too much—or too little—sex, while the Roman Catholic Church taught that virginity was the ideal state. Holy men and women committed themselves to lifelong abstinence in the name of religion. Everyone was forced to conform to restrictive rules about who they could have sex with, in what way, how often, and even when, and could be harshly punished for getting it wrong. Other experiences are more familiar. Like us, medieval people faced challenges in finding a suitable partner or trying to get pregnant (or trying not to). They also struggled with many of the same social issues, such as whether prostitution should be legalized. Above all, they shared our fondness for dirty jokes and erotic images. By exploring their sex lives, the book brings ordinary medieval people to life and reveals details of their most personal thoughts and experiences. Ultimately, it provides us with an important and intimate connection to the past.

The Book of Margery Kempe

The Book of Margery Kempe
Author: Margery Kempe
Publisher: Penguin UK
Total Pages: 449
Release: 1985
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0140432515

The story of the eventful and controversial life of Margery Kempe - wife, mother, businesswoman, pilgrim and visionary - is the earliest surviving autobiography in English. Here Kempe (c.1373-c.1440) recounts in vivid, unembarrassed detail the madness that followed the birth of the first of her fourteen children, the failure of her brewery business, her dramatic call to the spiritual life, her visions and uncontrollable tears, the struggle to convert her husband to a vow of chastity and her pilgrimages to Europe and the Holy Land. Margery Kempe could not read or write, and dictated her remarkable story late in life. It remains an extraordinary record of human faith and a portrait of a medieval woman of unforgettable character and courage.

Ravishing Maidens

Ravishing Maidens
Author: Kathryn Gravdal
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Total Pages: 204
Release: 2010-08-03
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0812200330

In this study of sexual violence and rape in French medieval literature and law, Kathryn Gravdal examines an array of famous works never before analyzed in connection with sexual violence. Gravdal demonstrates the variety of techniques through which medieval discourse made rape acceptable: sometimes through humor and aestheticization, sometimes through the use of social and political themes, but especially through the romanticism of rape scenes.

Rape and Ravishment in the Literature of Medieval England

Rape and Ravishment in the Literature of Medieval England
Author: Corinne J. Saunders
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Total Pages: 364
Release: 2001
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780859916103

"The study then considers the treatment of rape and ravishment in a range of literary genres: in hagiography, female saints are repeatedly threatened with rape; the stories of Lucretia and Helen underpin legendary history; the acts of rape and ravishment challenge and shape chivalric order in romance; otherworldly rapes result in the conception of romance heroes. The final two chapters examine the ways in which Malory and Chaucer write and rewrite rape and ravishment."--BOOK JACKET.

Intersections of Sexuality and the Divine in Medieval Culture

Intersections of Sexuality and the Divine in Medieval Culture
Author: Susannah Chewning
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 333
Release: 2017-03-02
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1351926357

As distinct from the many recent collections and studies of medieval literature and culture that have focused on gender and sexuality as their major themes, this collection considers and serves to re-think and re-situate religion and sexuality together. Including 'traditional' works such as Chaucer and the Pearl-poet, as well as less well known and studied texts - such as alchemical texts and the Wohunge group - the contributors here focus on the meeting point of these two often-examined concepts. They seek an understanding of where sex and religion distinguish themselves from one another, and where they do not. This volume locates the Divine and the Erotic within the continuum of experience and devotion that characterize the paradox of the medieval world. Not merely original in their approaches, these authors seek a new vision of how these two inter-connected themes - sexuality and the Divine - meet, connect, distinguish themselves, and merge within medieval life, language, and literature.

The Cambridge Companion to Erotic Literature

The Cambridge Companion to Erotic Literature
Author: Bradford K. Mudge
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 297
Release: 2017-09-07
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 110718407X

This Companion offers an introduction to key topics in the study of erotic literature from antiquity to the present.

The Encyclopedia of Medieval Literature in Britain, 4 Volume Set

The Encyclopedia of Medieval Literature in Britain, 4 Volume Set
Author: Sian Echard
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 2102
Release: 2017-08-07
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1118396987

The Encyclopedia of Medieval Literature in Britain vereint erstmals wissenschaftliche Erkenntnisse zu Multilingualität und Interkulturalität im mittelalterlichen Britannien und bietet mehr als 600 fundierte Einträge zu Schlüsselpersonen, Zusammenhängen und Einflüssen in der Literatur vom fünften bis sechzehnten Jahrhundert. - Einzigartiger multilingualer, interkultureller Ansatz und die neuesten wissenschaftlichen Erkenntnisse. Das gesamte Mittelalter und die Bandbreite literarischer Sprachen werden abgedeckt. - Über 600 fundierte, verständliche Einträge zu Schlüsselpersonen, Texten, kritischen Debatten, Methoden, kulturellen Zusammenhängen sowie verwandte Terminologie. - Repräsentiert die gesamte Literatur der Britischen Inseln, einschließlich Alt- und Mittelenglisch, das frühe Schottland, die Anglonormannen, Nordisch, Latein und Französisch in Britannien, die keltische Literatur in Wales, Irland, Schottland und Cornwall. - Beeindruckende chronologische Darstellung, von der Invasion der Sachsen bis zum 5. Jahrhundert und weiter bis zum Übergang zur frühen Moderne im 16. Jahrhundert. - Beleuchtet die Überbleibsel mittelalterlicher britischer Literatur, darunter auch Manuskripte und frühe Drucke, literarische Stätten und Zusammenhänge in puncto Herstellung, Leistung und Rezeption sowie erzählerische Transformation und intertextuelle Verbindungen in dieser Zeit.