The Mother's Mark
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The Queer Fantasies of Normative Masculinity in Middle English Popular Romance
University of Montana ScholarWorks at University of Montana Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers Graduate School 2014 The Queer Fantasies of Normative Masculinity in Middle English Popular Romance Cathryn Irene Arno The University of Montana Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Arno, Cathryn Irene, "The Queer Fantasies of Normative Masculinity in Middle English Popular Romance" (2014). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers. 4167. https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/4167 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at ScholarWorks at University of Montana. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at University of Montana. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE QUEER FANTASIES OF NORMATIVE MASCULINITY IN MIDDLE ENGLISH POPULAR ROMANCE By CATHRYN IRENE ARNO Bachelor of Arts, University of Montana, Missoula, 2008 Thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in English Literature The University of Montana Missoula, MT December 2013 Approved by: Sandy Ross, Dean of The Graduate School Graduate School Dr. Ashby Kinch, Chair Department of English Dr. Elizabeth Hubble, Department of Women’s and Gender Studies Dr. John Hunt, Department of English © COPYRIGHT by Cathryn Irene Arno 2014 All Rights Reserved ii Arno, Cathryn, M.A., Fall 2013 English The Queer Fantasies of Normative Masculinity in Middle English Popular Romance Chairperson: Dr. Ashby Kinch This thesis examines how the authors, Geoffrey Chaucer and Thomas Chestre, manipulate the construct of late fourteenth-century normative masculinity by parodying the aristocratic ideology that hegemonically prescribed the proper performance of masculine normativity. -
Nobility in Middle English Romance
Nobility in Middle English Romance Marianne A. Fisher A dissertation submitted for the degree of PhD Cardiff University 2013 Summary of Thesis: Postgraduate Research Degrees Student ID Number: 0542351 Title: Miss Surname: Fisher First Names: Marianne Alice School: ENCAP Title of Degree: PhD (English Literature) Full Title of Thesis Nobility in Middle English Romance Student ID Number: 0542351 Summary of Thesis Medieval nobility was a compound and fluid concept, the complexity of which is clearly reflected in the Middle English romances. This dissertation examines fourteen short verse romances, grouped by story-type into three categories. They are: type 1: romances of lost heirs (Degaré, Chevelere Assigne, Sir Perceval of Galles, Lybeaus Desconus, and Octavian); type 2: romances about winning a bride (Floris and Blancheflour, The Erle of Tolous, Sir Eglamour of Artois, Sir Degrevant, and the Amis– Belisaunt plot from Amis and Amiloun); type 3: romances of impoverished knights (Amiloun’s story from Amis and Amiloun, Sir Isumbras, Sir Amadace, Sir Cleges, and Sir Launfal). The analysis is based on contextualized close reading, drawing on the theories of Pierre Bourdieu. The results show that Middle English romance has no standard criteria for defining nobility, but draws on the full range on contemporary opinion; understandings of nobility conflict both between and within texts. Ideological consistency is seldom a priority, and the genre apparently serves neither a single socio-political agenda, nor a single socio-political group. The dominant conception of nobility in each romance is determined by the story-type. Romance type 1 presents nobility as inherent in the blood, type 2 emphasizes prowess and force of will, and type 3 concentrates on virtue. -
Reading Landscapes in Medieval British Romance
READING LANDSCAPES IN MEDIEVAL BRITISH ROMANCE DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Andrew Murray Richmond, M. Phil. Graduate Program in English The Ohio State University 2015 Dissertation Committee: Dr. Lisa J. Kiser, Adviser Dr. Richard Firth Green Dr. Ethan Knapp Dr. Karen Winstead Copyright by Andrew Murray Richmond 2015 ABSTRACT My dissertation establishes a new framework with which to interpret the textual landscapes and ecological details that permeate late-medieval British romances from the period of c.1300 – c. 1500, focusing on the ways in which such landscapes reflect the diverse experiences of medieval readers and writers. In particular, I identify and explain fourteenth- and fifteenth-century English and Scottish conceptions of the relationships between literary worlds and “real-world” locations. In my first section, I analyze the role of topography and the management of natural resources in constructing a sense of community in Sir Isumbras, William of Palerne, and Havelok the Dane, and explain how abandoned or ravaged agricultural landscapes in Sir Degrevant and the Tale of Gamelyn betray anxieties about the lack of human control over the English landscape in the wake of population decline caused by civil war, the Black Death, and the Little Ice Age. My next section examines seashores and waterscapes in Sir Amadace, Emaré, Sir Eglamour of Artois, the Awntyrs off Arthure, and the Constance romances of Chaucer and Gower. Specifically, I explain how a number of romances present the seaside as a simultaneously inviting and threatening space whose multifaceted nature as a geographical, political, and social boundary embodies the complex range of meanings embedded in the Middle English concept of “play” – a word that these texts often link with the seashore. -
The Sociology of Middle English Romance: Three Late Medieval Compilers
THE SOCIOLOGY OF MIDDLE ENGLISH ROMANCE: THREE LATE MEDIEVAL COMPILERS DISSERTATION Prepared in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Michael Robert Johnston, M.Litt. The Ohio State University 2007 Dissertation Committee: Richard Firth Green, Advisor Frank Coulson Lisa Kiser Ethan Knapp ____________________________________ Advisor English Graduate Program ABSTRACT My dissertation brings a new perspective to the study of Middle English romance by demonstrating how manuscript evidence can both enrich and challenge critical assumptions about the genre. The material form in which romances were encountered in the Middle Ages gives us insight into how its original readers would have encountered the genre. Such evidence should be central to our attempts to place romance within cultural history. My dissertation synthesizes the concerns of cultural history and codicology—disciplines within medieval studies that are not often considered together— by examining four compilations of late medieval romance. In each chapter, I advance an argument about the various textual interpretations suggested by the material form of a single manuscript. In particular, I examine the thematic patterns emerging across the romances within each manuscript. The main line of investigation centers on how the romances in each manuscript are arranged, and how groupings of texts encourage readers of the manuscript to attend to certain issues in the texts. I also take into account how the other (“non-romance”) texts in each manuscript affect the interpretation of each individual romance. Finally, I consider how the romances relate to, reflect and/or refract i the specific interests of their compilers and how the social position of each compiler (e.g., his class identity, his regional identity, his political affiliations) shaped the ways in which he collected and preserved his texts. -
Looking at T'other: Robert Thornton's Yorkshire Oryent, C.1400-1473
Looking at T’Other: Robert Thornton’s Yorkshire Oryent, c.1400-1473 Jennifer Bartlett, B.A. (hons.) (Dunelm), M.A., PGCert. PhD University of York Centre for Medieval Studies October 2015 2 ABSTRACT This thesis examines the place of the “Oryent” in the socio-cultural milieu of Robert Thornton, a member of the North Riding gentry, circa 1400-1473. Using the figure of Thornton, and his two manuscripts, Lincoln, Lincoln Cathedral Library MS 91 and London, British Library MS Additional 31042, as a way of entering into this cultural landscape, it situates them in their historical and geographical contexts in order to explore the representations, reception of, and attitudes towards the people and material culture of the “Oryent” (employing Thornton’s own orthography and usage to define this region) as found in Thornton’s socio-cultural sphere. By then exploring both the cultural landscape, and the ideas presented by the manuscripts themselves, this thesis argues that, counter to much current critical thinking, those of Thornton’s circle possessed a sophisticated and nuanced understanding of the “Oryent,” and its people, the Jews and so-called “Saracens.” Firstly it examines the real contemporary presence and usages of “Oryental” foodstuffs, fabrics and animals throughout Yorkshire. It then explores the remembered presence of the Jews, the evoked presence of the Holy Land in the city of York, and how these cultural memories influenced the experience of reading the alliterative romance Siege of Jerusalem. Finally it investigates the imagined literary figure of the Saracen, as located in Thornton’s manuscripts, how this figure was informed by scholastic ideas, and how these ideas impacted upon thoughts concerning Saracen conversion to Christianity. -
An Exploration of Women's Viewpoints
FEELING WOMEN: AN EXPLORATION OF WOMEN'S VIEWPOINTS IN THE MIDDLE ENGLISH BRETON LAY MARGARET ROBSON D. PHIL 1994 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Acknowledgements iii Abstract iv Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 Growing Up Straight: The Construction of Gen eyed Identity in Sir Degarre. 44 Chap ter 3 Projections of Desire: The Masochistic Woman iinEmare, Lay Le Freine, and The Erl of Toulous. 85 Ernare 89 La le Freine 103 The Erl of Toulous 119 Chap ter 4 The Ties That Bind: Sex and Marriage in Sir Or T eo. 128 Chapter 5 The Demon Mother: A Reading of Sir Gowther. 157 Chapter 6 The Rivals: A Consideration of Sir Laun al. 185 Notes 212 Bibliography 243 ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The chapter here entitled, 'The Demon Mother: A Reading of Sir Gowther', appeared in an earlier form under the tit e, Animal Magic: Moral Regeneration in Sir Gowther', in The Yearbook of English Studies 22 (1992). I wish to record my gratitude to the following people for their support and encouragement over the years. To Professor Felicity Riddy, for her encouragement, input and patience, all of which have been considerable; to Dr. Carol Meale, who first suggested I might attempt this; to Ms. Karen Hodder and Professor Nicole Ward-Jouve, for their advice and support. To Dr. Jim Binns, for his erudition and his faith in me; to Dr. Glen Newey, for introducing me to the work of Cavell and Wittgenstein; to Mr. Ken Stokes, for his patience and encouragement; to Mr. Ken Clayden, for teaching me so much about communication. -
1 Middle English Breton Lays & Chaucer's Franklin's Tale
MIDDLE ENGLISH BRETON LAYS & CHAUCER’S FRANKLIN’S TALE 1 ÉDITIONS ****BENSON Larry D., The Riverside Chaucer: based on the works of Geoffrey Chaucer (1987), Oxford, OUP, 2008. CREPIN André, Les Contes de Canterbury, présentation et traduction nouvelle, Paris, Gallimard, « Folio classique », 2000. ****LASKAYA Anne, SALISBURY Eve (eds), The Middle English Breton Lays, Kalamazoo, MI, Medieval InsTiTute PublicaTions for TEAMS, “Middle English TexTs”, 1995. Disponible en ligne : htTp://www.lib.rochesTer.edu/camelot/Teams/salisbur.htm ****MORGAN Gerald, The Franklin's Tale: from The Canterbury Tales, Dublin, Irish Academic Press, 1992. ****SPEARING A. C., Chaucer: The Franklin’s Prologue and Tale (1966), Cambridge, CUP, 1994. 2 MANUSCRITS NB : les références aux manuscriTs originaux figurenT dans le recueil de Laskaya et Salisbury ; dans la présente bibliographie, on a privilégié les analyses criTiques des manuscriTs. ALAMICHEL Marie-Françoise, « Paroles eT silences », Cahiers de recherches médiévales et humanistes, 2010, 19, p. 27-41. BLISS Alan J., “NoTes on The Auchinleck ManuscripT”, Speculum, OcT. 1951, 26-4: 652-658. ****BURNLEY David, WIGGINS Alison (eds), The Auchinleck Manuscript, National Library of Scotland, 2003, htTp://auchinleck.nls.uk/ ***HANNA Ralph, “Reconsidering The Auchinleck ManuscripT” in PEARSALL Derek (ed.), New Directions in Later Medieval Manuscript Studies: Essays From the 1998 Harvard Conference, Woodbridge, Boydell and Brewer, 2000, p. 91-102. **HIBBARD LOOMIS Laura, “Chaucer and The BreTon Lays of The Auchinleck ManuscripT”, Studies in Philology, 1941, 38: 14-33. Repr. in Adventures in the Middle Ages, New York, BurT Franklin, 1962, p. 131-149. Disponible en ligne : htTp://archive.org/sTream/adventuresinmidd00loom/adventuresinmidd00loom_djvu.TxT —, “The Auchinleck Manuscript and a Possible London Bookshop of 1330-1340”, PMLA, 1942, 57: 595-627. -
Medieval Oraljty and Morality
BRETON LAYS: MEDIEVAL ORALJTY AND MORALITY bv Nadine T. d'Entremont Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Dalhousie University Halifax, Nova Scotia December, 1996 Copyright by Nadine T. d'Entremont, 1996 Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie SeMces seMces bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Canada Canada The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant a la National Libmy of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distriiute or sell reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/nlm, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts fiom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. Table of Contents Introduction Chapter One: The Breton Lay in French: Marie de France Chapter Two: The Later Breton Lay in French: After Marie Chapter Three: The Breton Lay in English Chapter Four: Chaucer's Franklin's Tale Works Cited Abstract The Breton lay, a type of short narrative poem which often though not always deals with subjects such as extramarital love and/or the supernatural, was written in French by Marie de France during the twelfth century, and was subsequently copied by various authors in both French and English until the fourteenth century. -
The Identity-Defining Role of Forgetting in Transformative Disguise in Two Middle English Romances: Havelok the Dane and Sir Isumbras
The Identity-defining Role of Forgetting in Transformative Disguise in two Middle English Romances: Havelok the Dane and Sir Isumbras by Francine Harris A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts in English Carleton University Ottawa, Ontario © 2018 Francine Harris ii Abstract This thesis explores the interconnected processes of disguise and forgetting in two Middle English romances, Havelok the Dane and Sir Isumbras. The disguises in these two texts have a transformative function because the protagonists, while disguised, forget their identities. Because of this, these transformative disguises are immersed in the genre’s well-established narrative of identity construction. The disguise motif, though common in romance, is rarely studied as a driving force in identity transformation because it more often functions as a performative plot point. Using medieval theories of memory, forgetting, and recollection to assess how the processes of disguise and forgetting occur in the texts, my research has determined that forgetting makes the transformations into disguise more complete and that recollecting what is important for both the true and disguised identities creates an improved and changed final identity. Overall, these romances’ use of disguise, forgetting, and transformation presents forgetting as both a problem and a necessity for effecting change. iii Acknowledgements I have many people to thank for their help along the way in making this thesis successful. First, I would like to thank my thesis supervisor, Professor Siobhain Bly Calkin for her faith in me as I returned to the program after a long hiatus. -
The Social Lives of Medieval Romance
University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 2016 Luxury, Aesthetics And Politics: The Social Lives Of Medieval Romance Lydia Yaitsky Kertz University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the Aesthetics Commons, Medieval Studies Commons, and the Other Languages, Societies, and Cultures Commons Recommended Citation Kertz, Lydia Yaitsky, "Luxury, Aesthetics And Politics: The Social Lives Of Medieval Romance" (2016). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 2385. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/2385 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/2385 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Luxury, Aesthetics And Politics: The Social Lives Of Medieval Romance Abstract This dissertation project traces a cultural reception of the romance genre in England and France in the late fourteenth century. In compiling lengthy descriptions of courtly trappings, medieval romances serve as vehicles for idealized aristocratic self-presentation and thereby become complicit in associating material luxury with aristocratic power. I argue that while the changes in material technologies of medieval textual production break down the exclusivity of romance by opening the texts to wider reading publics, the positive representations of luxury in verbal ornament and visual programs of narrative art objects continue the perpetuation of aristocratic privilege. Chapter One examines the Shield of Gawain in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and the Trojan image-texts in Chaucer’s House of Fame as imitatio of Virgilian ekphrases, theorizing medieval understanding of a Greek poetic device. Chapter Two analyzes the Tryst beneath the Tree episode from Tristan and Isolde as it is rendered on fourteenth-century Parisian ivory caskets, situating the composition within the larger visual program that teaches aristocratic women about heterosexual desire through a negotiation of sight and touch. -
REPRESENTATIONS of PAIN and SUFFERING in MIDDLE ENGLISH METRICAL ROMANCES Being
THE UNIVERSITY OF HULL ROMANCING THE ORDEAL: REPRESENTATIONS OF PAIN AND SUFFERING IN MIDDLE ENGLISH METRICAL ROMANCES being a Thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctorate of Philosophy in the University of Hull by Pınar Taşdelen, BA (Hacettepe) MA (Hacettepe) June 2012 Table of Contents Abstract………………………………………………………………………………....1 Acknowledgements……………………………………………………...……………...2 Introduction …………………………………………………….………………...........3 Chapter One: Angelic Demons and Demonic Angels: Representations of Villains in Middle English Metrical Romances …………………………………………………58 Chapter Two: Submit Weakly or Resist Boldly I: Representations of Female Victims in Middle English Metrical Romances…………………………………....113 Chapter Three: Submit Weakly or Resist Boldly II: Representations of Male Victims in Middle English Metrical Romances……………………………………138 Chapter Four: Suffering on the Way: Representations of Journey, Exile, Quest and Pilgrimage in Middle English Metrical Romances…………………………...188 Chapter Five: Sanctifying and Enchanting the Ordeal: Representations of Divine Agents, Prophetic Dreams and Supernatural Factors in Middle English Metrical Romances……………………………………………………………………………..220 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………261 Appendix: Suffering Theme Index of Middle English Metrical Romances...........270 Bibliography………………………………………………………………………….317 Summary of thesis submitted for PhD degree by Pınar Taşdelen on Romancing the Ordeal: Representations of Pain and Suffering in Middle English Metrical Romances This thesis concentrates on the representations -
Pulp Fictions of Medieval England
Pulp fictions of medieval England MUP_McDonald_00_Prelims1 11/18/03, 16:55 MUP_McDonald_00_Prelims2 11/18/03, 16:55 Pulp fictions of medieval England Essays in popular romance edited by Nicola McDonald Manchester University Press Manchester and New York distributed exclusively in the USA by Palgrave MUP_McDonald_00_Prelims3 11/18/03, 16:55 Copyright © Manchester University Press 2004 While copyright in the volume as a whole is vested in Manchester University Press, copyright in individual chapters belongs to their respective authors. This electronic version has been made freely available under a Creative Commons (CC-BY-NC-ND) licence, which permits non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction provided the author(s) and Manchester University Press are fully cited and no modifications or adaptations are made. Details of the licence can be viewed at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ Published by Manchester University Press Oxford Road, Manchester 13 9, UK and Room 400, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, 10010, USA www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data applied for 0 7190 6318 3 hardback 0 7190 6319 1 paperback First published 2004 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 The publisher has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for any external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.