Rape and Ravishment in the Literature of Medieval England


Book Description

"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.




Violence Against Women in Medieval Texts


Book Description

This volume brings together specialists from different areas of medieval literary study to focus on the role of habits of thought in shaping attitudes toward women during the Middle Ages. The essays range from Old English literature to the Spanish Inquisition and encompass such genres as romance, chronicles, hagiography, and legal documents.




Representing Rape in Medieval and Early Modern Literature


Book Description

In thirteen studies of representations of rape in Medieval and Early Modern literature by such authors as Chaucer, Shakespeare and Spenser, this volume argues that some form of sexual violence against women serves as a foundation of Western culture. The volume has two purposes: first, to explore the resistance these pervasive representations generate and have generated for readers - especially for the female reader- and second, to explore what these representations tell us about social formations governing the relationships between men and women. More particularly, Rose and Robertson are interested in how representations of rape manifest a given culture's understanding of the female subject in society.




Ravishing Maidens


Book Description

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.




A Companion to Medieval Poetry


Book Description

A Companion to Medieval Poetry presents a series oforiginal essays from leading literary scholars that explore Englishpoetry from the Anglo-Saxon period up to the15th century. Organised into three parts to echo the chronological andstylistic divisions between the Anglo-Saxon, Middle English andPost-Chaucerian periods, each section is introduced with contextualessays, providing a valuable introduction to the society andculture of the time Combines a general discussion of genres of medieval poetry,with specific consideration of texts and authors, includingBeowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Chaucer,Gower and Langland Features original essays by eminent scholars, including AndyOrchard, Carl Schmidt, Douglas Gray, and BarryWindeatt, who present a range of theoretical,historical, and cultural approaches to reading medieval poetry, aswell as offering close analysis of individual texts andtraditions




Stolen Women in Medieval England


Book Description

The first comprehensive exploration of women's multifaceted experiences of forced and consensual ravishment in medieval England.




The Erotic in the Literature of Medieval Britain


Book Description

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.




Writing War


Book Description

Essays consider the variety of responses to warfare and combat in medieval literature.




Rape Culture and Female Resistance in Late Medieval Literature


Book Description

Centering on the difficult and important subject of medieval rape culture, this book brings Middle English and Scots texts into conversation with contemporary discourses on sexual assault and the #MeToo movement. The book explores the topic in the late medieval lyric genre known as the pastourelle and in related literary works, including chivalric romance, devotional lyric, saints’ lives, and the works of major authors such as Margery Kempe and William Dunbar. By engaging issues that are important to feminist activism today—the gray areas of sexual consent, the enduring myth of false rape allegations, and the emancipatory potential of writing about survival—this volume demonstrates how the radical terms of the pastourelle might reshape our own thinking about consent, agency, and survivors’ speech and help uncover cultural scripts for talking about sexual violence today. In addition to embodying the possibilities of medievalist feminist criticism after #MeToo, Rape Culture and Female Resistance in Late Medieval Literature includes an edition of sixteen Middle English and Middle Scots pastourelles. The poems are presented in a critical framework specifically tailored to the undergraduate classroom. Along with the editors, the contributors to this volume include Lucy M. Allen-Goss, Suzanne M. Edwards, Mary C. Flannery, Katharine W. Jager, Scott David Miller, Elizabeth Robertson, Courtney E. Rydel, and Amy N. Vines.




A Companion to Romance


Book Description

Romance is a varied and fluid literary genre, notoriously difficult to define. This groundbreaking Companion surveys the many permutations of romance throughout the ages. Considers the literary and historical development of the romance genre from its classical origins to the present day Incorporates discussion of the changing readership of romance and of romance’s special relation to women readers Comprises 30 essays written by leading authorities on different periods and sub-genres Challenges the idea that the appeal of romance is exclusively escapist Draws on a wide range of specific and influential literary examples