Courtly and queer : deconstruction, desire, and medieval French literature / Charlie Samuelson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Samuelson, Charlie, author.

Contributor:

Rosengarten Family Fund.

Series:

Interventions: new studies in medieval culture

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

French poetry--To 1500--History and criticism.

French poetry.

French literature--To 1500--History and criticism.

French literature.

Courtly love in literature.

Queer theory.

Narrative poetry, French--History and criticism.

Narrative poetry, French.

Romances--History and criticism.

Romances.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Physical Description:

viii, 229 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Columbus : The Ohio State University Press, [2022]

Summary:

"Focuses on high medieval verse romance, associated with Chrétien de Troyes, and late medieval dits, associated with the work of Guillaume de Machaut. Courtly and Queer considers these genres both alongside each other and in relation to deconstruction and queer theory"-- Provided by publisher.

"In Courtly and Queer, Charlie Samuelson casts queerness in medieval French texts about courtly love in a new light by bringing together for the first time two exemplary genres: high medieval verse romance, associated with the towering figure of Chrétien de Troyes, and late medieval dits, primarily associated with Guillaume de Machaut. In close readings informed by deconstruction and queer theory, Samuelson argues that the genres' juxtaposition opens up radical new perspectives on the deviant poetics and gender and sexual politics of both. Contrary to a critical tradition that locates the queer Middle Ages at the margins of these courtly genres, Courtly and Queer emphasizes an unflagging queerness that is inseparable from poetic indeterminacy and that inhabits the core of a literary tradition usually assumed to be conservative and patriarchal. Ultimately, Courtly and Queer contends that one facet of texts commonly referred to as their "courtliness"-namely, their literary sophistication-powerfully overlaps with modern conceptions of queerness"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction: Verse romances and dits, poetic and sexual indeterminacy

Reflexive, ambivalent, queer subjects

Medieval metalepsis: queering narrative poetics

On sameness, difference, and textualizing desire: queering lyric insertion

Queer irony in Chrétien de Troyes and Guillaume de Machaut

Coda: Slashes.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 211-223) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Rosengarten Family Fund.

Other Format:

Print version: Samuelson, Charlie. Courtly and queer.

ISBN:

9780814214985

0814214983

OCLC:

1268257170

Publisher Number:

99990694664