04239nam 2200709 a 450 991078188300332120200520144314.01-283-21185-897866132118590-8122-0275-910.9783/9780812202755(CKB)2550000000051235(OCoLC)759158284(CaPaEBR)ebrary10492041(SSID)ssj0000543419(PQKBManifestationID)11324891(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000543419(PQKBWorkID)10531177(PQKB)10861667(MdBmJHUP)muse3171(DE-B1597)449131(OCoLC)979954185(DE-B1597)9780812202755(Au-PeEL)EBL3441584(CaPaEBR)ebr10492041(CaONFJC)MIL321185(MiAaPQ)EBC3441584(EXLCZ)99255000000005123520021022d2003 uy 0engurcn|||||||||txtccrThe curse of Eve, the wound of the hero[electronic resource] blood, gender, and medieval literature /Peggy McCrackenPhiladelphia University of Pennsylvania Pressc20031 online resource (191 p.) The Middle Ages seriesBibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph0-8122-3713-7 Includes bibliographical references and index. Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- 1 Only Women Bleed -- 2 The Amenorrhea of War -- 3 The Gender of Sacrifice -- 4 Menstruation and Monstrous Birth -- 5 The Scene of Parturition -- 6 The Grail and Its Hosts -- Conclusion: Bleeding for Love -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- AcknowledgmentsIn The Curse of Eve, the Wound of the Hero, Peggy McCracken explores the role of blood symbolism in establishing and maintaining the sex-gender systems of medieval culture. Reading a variety of literary texts in relation to historical, medical, and religious discourses about blood, and in the context of anthropological and religious studies, McCracken offers a provocative examination of the ways gendered cultural values were mapped onto blood in the Middle Ages.As McCracken demonstrates, blood is gendered when that of men is prized in stories about battle and that of women is excluded from the public arena in which social and political hierarchies are contested and defined through chivalric contest. In her examination of the conceptualization of familial relationships, she uncovers the privileges that are grounded in gendered definitions of blood relationships. She shows that in narratives about sacrifice a father's relationship to his son is described as a shared blood, whereas texts about women accused of giving birth to monstrous children define the mother's contribution to conception in terms of corrupted, often menstrual blood. Turning to fictional representations of bloody martyrdom and of eucharistic ritual, McCracken juxtaposes the blood of the wounded guardian of the grail with that of Christ and suggests that the blood from the grail king's wound is characterized in opposition to that of women and Jewish men.Drawing on a range of French and other literary texts, McCracken shows how the dominant ideas about blood in medieval culture point to ways of seeing modern values associated with blood in a new light, and how modern representations in turn suggest new perspectives on medieval perceptions.Middle Ages series.Literature, MedievalHistory and criticismBlood in literatureSex role in literatureJewish Studies.Literature.Medieval and Renaissance Studies.Literature, MedievalHistory and criticism.Blood in literature.Sex role in literature.809/.9335McCracken Peggy1106565MiAaPQMiAaPQMiAaPQBOOK9910781883003321The curse of Eve, the wound of the hero3852566UNINA