Representations of the Feminine in the Middle Ages (Feminea Medievalia, 1) (Volume 1) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0851156509 ISBN 13: 9780851156507

Publisher: Academia, 1995

Synopsis

The essays in this volume have a common theme and preoccupation: an intention to present medieval women - in life, literature, hagiography and art - as they thought of themselves, teased from the work of theirintermediaries (Hildegard of Bingen, Christine of Pisan) or from the works, words and social milieux of men (Chaucer's women, Chretien's patrons, the empress Theodora and others). Feminea Mediaevalia is designed to foreground feminine and feminist topics and issues in the field of medieval studies. Contributors: DEBORAH EVERHART, STEPHEN STALLCUP, JENNIFER R. GOODMAN, BONNIE WHEELER, JEAN E. JOST, JO GOYNE, RENEÉJUSTICE STANDLEY, DEREK BAKER, SAMUEL LYNDON GLADDEN, PAULA MARTIN, PATRICIA STIRNEMANN, DONNA J. OESTREICH, MARIANNE SINRAM, ELIZABETH NIGHTLINGER, ANN HUTCHISON, MICHAEL HOLAHAN.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

When, in their various titles, the authors comprised within this volume speak of 'rhetoric and gender', 'faith and bondage', self-perception, self-revelation, 'beauty and equality', they do more than indicate the particular thrust of their individual studies. They point to a common theme and pre-occupation: a shared and collaborative endeavour to view medieval women - in life, literature, legend, hagiography and art - 'through their own eyes' which was seminal to this volume and this series. For the most part, the women portrayed have speak to us through intermediaries. Hildegard of Bingen, Christine de Pisan, and Ann Hutchinson's 'recusant nuns' may present themselves in their own words - though even here there are veils of concealment, dissimulation, assumption and presumption to be removed - but Chaucer's women, Chretien's patrons, Milton's Eve, the conflation of saints which comprises Wilgefortis, Ste Foy, and the imperious Theodora are presented in the words, works and social milieux of men. Where they are, ostensibly, given their own voices it is by male authors. That the women presented here did in fact have personalities of their own - as plain common-sense might have been expected to allow - and can be argued to display them, however inadvertently, in the male creations which embody them, is evident in this collection, which raises interesting incidental questions about the purposes, for example, of Chaucer, Milton and the mosaicists of Ravenna.

About this edition

• Publisher: Academia
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0851156509
• ISBN 13: 9780851156507
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 356
• Editor: Wheeler Bonnie