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Record Nr.

UNINA9910789647503321

Autore

Rollo David

Titolo

Kiss my relics [[electronic resource] ] : hermaphroditic fictions of the middle ages / / David Rollo

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Chicago ; ; London, : University of Chicago Press, 2011

ISBN

1-283-25036-5

9786613250360

0-226-72460-3

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (260 p.)

Disciplina

870.9

Soggetti

Paraphilias in literature

Intersexuality in literature

Homosexuality in literature

Literature, Medieval - History and criticism

Latin literature, Medieval and modern - History and criticism

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

pt. 1. Martianus Capella, Remigius of Auxerre, William of Malmesbury -- pt. 2. Alain de Lille : De planctu naturae -- pt. 3. Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun : Le Roman de la rose.

Sommario/riassunto

Conservative thinkers of the early Middle Ages conceived of sensual gratification as a demonic snare contrived to debase the higher faculties of humanity, and they identified pagan writing as one of the primary conduits of decadence. Two aspects of the pagan legacy were treated with particular distrust: fiction, conceived as a devious contrivance that falsified God's order; and rhetorical opulence, viewed as a vain extravagance. Writing that offered these dangerous allurements came to be known as "hermaphroditic" and, by the later Middle Ages, to be equated with homosexuality. At the margins of these developments, however, some authors began to validate fiction as a medium for truth and a source of legitimate enjoyment, while others began to explore and defend the pleasures of opulent rhetoric. Here David Rollo examines two such texts-Alain de Lille's De planctu Naturae and Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun's Roman de la Rose-



arguing that their authors, in acknowledging the liberating potential of their irregular written orientations, brought about a nuanced reappraisal of homosexuality. Rollo concludes with a consideration of the influence of the latter on Chaucer's Pardoner's Prologue and Tale.