Queering Medieval Translatio
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Háskóli Íslands Hugvísindasvið Medieval Icelandic Studies Queering Medieval Translatio Translation, Transformation, and Travel in the Strengleikar Ritgerð til M.A.-prófs í Medieval Icelandic Studies Paul Martino Kt.: 280995-4449 Leiðbeinandi: Sif Ríkharðsdóttir September 2018 Abstract Our understanding of gender and sexuality is rapidly evolving and expanding, in both social and academic spheres. Several scholars of medieval literature such as Caroline Dinshaw and Bill Burgwinkle have applied modern queer theory to medieval literature, yet the rich corpus of Old Norse prose has largely been neglected in this regard. This thesis seeks to contribute to a growing body of queer Norse scholarship with a study of alternative sexualities in the Strengleikar. By considering the text’s elements of translatio through a lens of queer theory, one is able to use the extant corpus of queer medieval scholarship to better understand the queerness of the Strengleikar in a comparative cultural context. I argue that in the context of a chivalric society that constructs sexuality with regard to a value of perpetual lineage, literary translatio exerts a queering effect due to its ability to disrupt patterns of reproduction. In the Strengleikar, the queerness of translatio manifests itself textually through sexual transformations brought about by travel and transformation. Strengleikar’s theme of queer translatio is reflected contextually by the text’s queer status as a translation. ii Ágrip Skilningur okkar á kyni og kynhneigð hefur þróast hratt og er stöðugt að taka breytingum, bæði í akademískum skilningi og í almennu samfélagi. Nokkrir fræðimenn á sviði miðaldafræða, eins og Caroline Dinshaw og Bill Burgwinkle, hafa beitt nútímakenningum á sviði hinsegin fræða á miðaldabókmenntir. Hinn ríki fornsagnaarfur Norðurlanda hefur þó verið vanræktur á þessu sviði. Þessi ritgerð leitast við að efla hinsegin fræði í norrænum fræðum með rannsókn á hinsegin kynhneigðum í Strengleikum. Með því að kanna þýðingarfræðilega hluta textans gegnum linsu hinsegin fræða er hægt að nota slíkar kenningar til að skilja betur hinsegin eiginleika Strengleika í þvermenningarlegu samhengi. Í ritgerðinni verður því haldið fram að þegar litið sé til lénsbundins samélags þar sem kynhneigð og kynferði er mótað út frá þörf á að tryggja og viðhalda blóðlínu þá hafi ferlið sem felst í „translatio“ (yfirfærslu) svokölluð hinsegin áhrif (e. queering effect) þar sem það rýfur slík mynstur hefðbundins æxlunarferlis. Í Strengleikum þá birtast þessi hinsegin áhrif af yfirfærslunni í textanum sjálfum í gegnum kynferðisleg umskipti sem tengjast bæði ferðalögum og hamskiptum. Þetta þema Strengleikja um hinsegin yfirfærslu birtist meðal annars í jaðarstöðu textans sem þýðingar. iii Acknowledgements First, I must thank my advisor Sif Ríkharðsdóttir for her continuous academic support. Sif’s encouragement pushed me to write a bold and original thesis I never would have thought possible. Sif also made significant contributions to the Icelandic abstract above. I likewise wish to thank Professors Haraldur Benharðsson, Torfi Tulinius, Wendy Hoofnagle, and Lesley Jacobs for being ever-resourceful and nurturing my academic growth. Additionally, I thank Dr. Jan Alexander van Nahl for his role in coordinating the department’s theses this year. I’d also like to thank Amy May Franks for being such a great organizing force in the queer medievalist community and introducing me to so many spectacular scholars. Indeed, I owe gratitude both to the queer scholars and to the scholars who are queer. Without their love, pride, and trailblazing research, this thesis could not exist. I am always grateful for the love and support of Jake and of my family, who were rooting for me the whole time from across the ocean. Finally, I thank Lynn, Mads, and Sarah, who helped make the dark Icelandic winter feel a little bit warmer. iv Queering Medieval Translatio: Translation, Transformation, and Travel in the Strengleikar Paul Martino v Table of Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................... 1 A brief overview of the Strengleikar ................................................................. 3 1. Towards a Queer Translatio ...................................................................................... 5 Translatio: beyond translation ........................................................................... 5 Queering translatio ............................................................................................ 7 Queer theory: theory, which is queer .............................................................. 10 Identifying queerness in medieval literature ................................................... 12 Constructing medieval sexuality: nature, lineage, honor ................................ 14 The gender politics of medieval sex ................................................................ 19 2. Visiting Queer Realms: Travel and Sexual Transformation ................................... 24 “Spontaneous conflation”: compounding othered identities ........................... 25 Utopias: compartmentalizing diversity with fantasy ....................................... 28 Classifying the asexual knight ......................................................................... 30 Chivalric defect: queer knights of the Strengleikar ......................................... 33 Anxiety of lack: Guiamar’s corrective translatio ............................................ 36 Banishing the queer to Avalon in “Janual” ..................................................... 38 Words of warning: failed sexual translatio in “Tveggja Elskanda Ljóð” ....... 42 Conclusions: queerness of travel ..................................................................... 44 3. Gay Werewolves: The Queerness of Shapeshifting ................................................ 47 The “sliding scale”: monsters as queer bodies ................................................ 47 Bestial bodies: lewdity, crudity, and unabashed nudity .................................. 52 Queering gender, queering humanity: Bisclaret’s shapeshifting ..................... 57 Beyond shapeshifting: lineage and sexual translatio in “Jonet” ..................... 62 Conclusions: queerness of transformation ....................................................... 65 Conclusion: Strengleikar’s queerness in text and context ........................................... 68 Marie de France, queer icon ............................................................................ 68 Queering the translatio of the Strengleikar ..................................................... 72 Works Cited ................................................................................................................. 76 vi Introduction The interpretation of premodern cultural affairs through a queer lens has always been a controversial scholarly endeavor. One must conduct such analysis with caution, as our notions of queer bodies and behavior are social constructs of the modern era, as is the concept of sexual identity as a whole. Many renowned scholars such as Bill Burgwinkle, Carolyn Dinshaw, and Ruth Mazo Karras have explored the concept of medieval queerness, but the rich literary corpus of northern Europe remains largely understudied in this respect. This thesis seeks to rectify that situation by considering the Strengleikar as a translated text, and discussing its textual and contextual transformations in terms of sexuality. By focusing on the text’s aspect of translation, one is able to apply an extant corpus of queer medieval scholarship in order to examine the interpretation and reception of translated queer themes in thirteenth century Norway and, ultimately, the institutional role of sexuality in medieval translation theory. The Strengleikar are stories of travel and metamorphosis. These literary themes of motion are reflected in the Strengleikar ’s cultural context by the text’s status as a transformed and foreign product of translation. The narrative motion of the text— that is, the textual translatio — is primarily rooted in gender and sexuality. Take, for example, Guiamar’s sexual transformation brought about by his journey to a strange kingdom, or the seemingly homosexual relationship between Bisclaret and his lord brought about by Bisclaret’s metamorphosis into a wolf. Thus, a queer analysis of these themes can glean a new perspective on translatio , power, and medieval social institutions with respect to gender and sexuality. 1 The first chapter of this thesis, “Towards a Queer Translatio ,” begins by defining both translatio and queerness within a medieval context, and establishes the theoretical relationship between the two. This chapter goes on to provide a brief overview of the methodology and historiography of applying queer theory to the discipline of medieval studies. After outlining the construction of medieval sexuality through primary sources, the chapter concludes by introducing medieval gender roles into the consideration of queer translatio . “Visiting Queer Realms: Travel and Sexual Transformation” applies queer theory to the spatial translatio that occurs in the narratives of of “Janual,” “Guiamar,” and “Tveggja Elskanda Ljóð.” This chapter first explores the role of othered entities medieval society, and how they are integral to the fantasy genre in the Middle Ages. Considering these three ljóð with respect to the genre as a whole, this chapter