Synopses & Reviews
Winner of the University of Central Florida College of Arts and Humanities Distinguished Researcher Award!!! Queering Medieval Genres proposes that, within the historical trajectory of many genres, certain agents are privileged while others are marginalized due to their understanding of heteronormative social codes. Examining the ways in which homosexuality disrupts generic and cultural expectations of heteronormativity, this book demonstrates that the introduction of the queer within medieval literature shatters the audience's expectations of textual pleasure and demands that they reconsider the effects of homosexuality on their constructions of sexual and spiritual identity. Scholars of medieval literature will appreciate the fresh insights that queer genre theory provides on critical texts of the period; additionally, Queering Medieval Genres outlines a hermeneutic device with which to analyze literature of other historical periods as well.
Review
"Tison Pugh's
Queering Medieval Genres offers an exciting examination of how the discourses of same sex relations disrupt and sometimes even subvert constructions of medieval heteronormativity. Pugh follows in the footsteps of such distinguished critics as Carolyn Dinshaw, Allen Frantzen, and Karma Lochrie in arguing the necessity of engaging medieval texts with queer theory, the necessity of engaging the institution of medieval studies with queer theory. His book provides a fascinating and important queer revision of the way we read medieval culture."--Martin B. Shichtman, Eastern Michigan University
"Queering Medieval Genres offers an extraordinarily lucid introduction to queer theory, one that will be useful both to those new to this branch of cultural studies and to those in the know. The connections between queer theory and genre theory are compelling, and Tison Pughs new readings of canonical medieval texts are insightful and provocative."--Laurie Finke, Professor of Women's and Gender Studies, Kenyon College
Synopsis
Queering Medieval Genres proposes that, within the historical trajectory of many genres, certain agents are privileged while others are marginalized due to their understanding of heteronormative social codes. Examining the ways in which homosexuality disrupts generic and cultural expectations of heteronormativity, this book demonstrates that the introduction of the queer within medieval literature shatters the audience's expectations of textual pleasure and demands that they reconsider the effects of homosexuality on their constructions of sexual and spiritual identity. Scholars of medieval literature will appreciate the fresh insights that queer genre theory provides on critical texts of the period; additionally, Queering Medieval Genres outlines a hermeneutic device with which to analyze literature of other historical periods as well.
Synopsis
Queering Medieval Genres unites queer theory with genre criticism to explore the contradictory space of homosexuality within medieval literature. Through the deployment of queer genre theory, the analysis outlines an exciting new hermeneutic tool while displaying its utility in trenchant readings of key texts of medieval literature.
Synopsis
Winner of the University of Central Florida College of Arts and Humanities Distinguished Researcher Award!!!
Queering Medieval Genres proposes that, within the historical trajectory of many genres, certain agents are privileged while others are marginalized due to their understanding of heteronormative social codes. Examining the ways in which homosexuality disrupts generic and cultural expectations of heteronormativity, this book demonstrates that the introduction of the queer within medieval literature shatters the audience's expectations of textual pleasure and demands that they reconsider the effects of homosexuality on their constructions of sexual and spiritual identity. Scholars of medieval literature will appreciate the fresh insights that queer genre theory provides on critical texts of the period; additionally,
Queering Medieval Genres outlines a hermeneutic device with which to analyze literature of other historical periods as well.
About the Author
Tison Pugh is Assistant Professor of English at the University of Central Florida. He has also taught at the University of California at Irvine. Recent and forthcoming publications may be found in
Journal of Narrative Theory, Arthuriana, Quidditas, Philological Quarterly, Christianity and Literature, and
Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Teaching. Table of Contents
Introduction: Queering Medieval Genres * Queering the Lyrics: Personae, Same-Sex Desire, and Salvation in the Poetry of Marbod of Rennes, Baudri of Bourgueil, and Hildebert of Lavardin * Chaucer's Queering Fabliaux * Queering Tragedy: Queer Desires and Queering Genres in Chaucer's
Troilus and Criseyde * Queering Arthurian Romance: Genres, Godgames, and Sado-Masochism in
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight * Conclusion: Queering Genres, Medieval Ideology, and Today's Readers * Works Cited