Amoral Gower : language, sex, and politics / Diane Watt.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Watt, Diane, 1965-

Series:

Medieval cultures ; v. 38.

Medieval cultures ; v. 38

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Gower, John, 1325?-1408. Confessio amantis.

Gower, John.

Gower, John, 1325?-1408.

Politics and literature--Great Britain--History--To 1500.

Politics and literature.

Ethics.

Political and social views.

Great Britain.

History.

Gower, John, 1325?-1408--Political and social views.

Gower, John, 1325?-1408--Language.

Gower, John, 1325?-1408--Ethics.

Ethics, Medieval, in literature.

Courtly love in literature.

Politics in literature.

Sex in literature.

Physical Description:

xviii, 219 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Minneapolis, MN ; London : University of Minnesota Press, [2003]

Summary:

"Moral Gower" he was called by friend and sometime rival Geoffrey Chaucer, and his Confessio Amantis has been viewed as an uncomplicated analysis of the universe, combining erotic narratives with ethical guidance and political commentary. Diane Watt offers the first sustained reading of John Gower's Confessio to argue that this early vernacular text offers no real solutions to the ethical problems it raises -- and in fact actively encourages "perverse" readings. Drawing on a combination of queer and feminist theory, ethical criticism, and psychoanalytic, historicist, and textual criticism, Watt focuses on the language, sex, and politics in Gower's writing. How, she asks, is Gower's Confessio related to contemporary controversies over vernacular translation and debates about language politics? How is Gower's treatment of rhetoric and language gendered and sexualized, and what bearing does this have on the ethical and political structure of the text? What is the relationship between the erotic, ethical, and political sections of Confessio Amantis? Watt demonstrates that Gower engaged in the sort of critical thinking more commonly associated with Chaucer and William Langland at the same time that she contributes to modern debates about the ethics of criticism.

Contents:

Introduction: Social Gower 1

Part I. Language

1. Gower's Babel Tower: Language Choice and the Grammar of Sex 21

2. Writing Like a Man: Rhetoric and Genealogy 38

Part II. Sex

3. Transgressive Genders and Subversive Sexualities 63

4. Sexual Chaos and Sexual Sin 82

Part III. Politics

5. Tyranny, Reform, and Self-Government 107

6. Oedipus, Apollonius, and Richard II 127

Epilogue: Ethical Gower 149.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 189-206) and index.

ISBN:

0816640270

0816640289

OCLC:

52030278