Getting medieval : sexualities and communities, pre- and postmodern / Carolyn Dinshaw.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Dinshaw, Carolyn, author.

Contributor:

ebrary, Inc.

Constance L. Rosenthal Book Fund.

Series:

Series Q

e-Duke books scholarly collection

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Sex--History.

Sex.

History.

Homosexuality--History.

Homosexuality.

Gay community--History.

Gay community.

Sex in literature.

Homosexuality in literature.

Literature, Medieval.

Civilization, Medieval.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xii, 345 pages).

polychrome

Place of Publication:

Durham, NC : Duke University Press, 1999.

System Details:

text file

Summary:

In Getting Medieval Carolyn Dinshaw examines communities -- dissident and orthodox -- in late-fourteenth and early-fifteenth-century England to create a new sense of queer history. Reaching beyond both medieval and queer studies, Dinshaw demonstrates in this challenging work how intellectual inquiry into pre-modern societies can contribute invaluably to current issues in cultural studies. In the process, she makes important connections between past and present cultures that until now have not been realized.

In her pursuit of historical analyses that embrace the heterogeneity and indeterminacy of sex and sexuality, Dinshaw examines canonical Middle English texts such as the Canterbury Tales and The Book of Margery Kempe. She examines polemics around the religious dissidents known as the Lollards as well as accounts of prostitutes in London to address questions of how particular sexual practices and identifications were normalized while others were proscribed. By exploring contemporary (mis)appropriations of medieval tropes in texts ranging from Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction to recent Congressional debates on U.S. cultural production, Dinshaw demonstrates how such modern media can serve to reinforce constrictive hetero-normative values and deny the multifarious nature of history. Finally, she works with and against the theories of Michel Foucault, Homi K. Bhabha, Roland Barthes, and John Boswell to show how deconstructionist impulses as well as historical perspectives can further an understanding of community in both pre- and post-modern societies.

This long-anticipated volume will be indispensible to medieval and queer scholars and will be welcomed by a larger cultural studiesaudience.

Contents:

Introduction Touching on the Past

Chapter One. It Takes One to Know One: Lollards, Sodomites, and Their Accusers

Chapter Two. Good Vibrations: John/Eleanor, Dame Alys, the Pardoner, and Foucault

Chapter Three. Margery Kempe Answers Back

Coda Getting Medieval: Pulp Fiction, Foucault, and the Use of the Past.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [305]-336) and index.

Electronic reproduction. Palo Alto, Calif. Available via World Wide Web.

Description based on print version record.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Constance L. Rosenthal Book Fund.

Other Format:

Print version: Dinshaw, Carolyn. Getting medieval.

ISBN:

9780822382188

0822382180

Publisher Number:

99962027125

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.