Medieval Misogyny and the Invention of Western Romantic LoveUniversity of Chicago Press, Feb 15, 2009 - 308 pages Until now the advent of Western romantic love has been seen as a liberation from—or antidote to—ten centuries of misogyny. In this major contribution to gender studies, R. Howard Bloch demonstrates how similar the ubiquitous antifeminism of medieval times and the romantic idealization of woman actually are. Through analyses of a broad range of patristic and medieval texts, Bloch explores the Christian construction of gender in which the flesh is feminized, the feminine is aestheticized, and aesthetics are condemned in theological terms. Tracing the underlying theme of virginity from the Church Fathers to the courtly poets, Bloch establishes the continuity between early Christian antifeminism and the idealization of woman that emerged in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. In conclusion he explains the likely social, economic, and legal causes for the seeming inversion of the terms of misogyny into those of an idealizing tradition of love that exists alongside its earlier avatar until the current era. This startling study will be of great value to students of medieval literature as well as to historians of culture and gender. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 85
Page 2
... women to speak for themselves from adopting the voice of a woman , to speak or “ to read like a woman ” in the phrase made popular by Jonathan Culler.3 For , as both men and women are becoming increasingly aware , the ventriloquistic ...
... women to speak for themselves from adopting the voice of a woman , to speak or “ to read like a woman ” in the phrase made popular by Jonathan Culler.3 For , as both men and women are becoming increasingly aware , the ventriloquistic ...
Page 4
... women . " 10 That is , using her own terms and leaving aside for the moment the unknowable affective element of antifeminism as well as the social status of actual women at any given moment , misogyny is a way of speaking about , as ...
... women . " 10 That is , using her own terms and leaving aside for the moment the unknowable affective element of antifeminism as well as the social status of actual women at any given moment , misogyny is a way of speaking about , as ...
Page 5
... woman or women with a capital W. Even the sentence " All women are differ- ent " is included in such a definition , since there are among women , as among men , points of resemblance that reduce such a statement to a violating gener ...
... woman or women with a capital W. Even the sentence " All women are differ- ent " is included in such a definition , since there are among women , as among men , points of resemblance that reduce such a statement to a violating gener ...
Page 6
... Woman , or by the use of woman or women in a universalizing prop- osition , is intimately bound to its specific social effects . Again , what is called for is not the repression of the topic but its critique , analysis that would ...
... Woman , or by the use of woman or women in a universalizing prop- osition , is intimately bound to its specific social effects . Again , what is called for is not the repression of the topic but its critique , analysis that would ...
Page 7
... women , no matter who the author was . " " 16 The denunciation of women , as Christine acknowl- edges , constitutes something of a cultural constant . Reaching back to the Old Testament and to ancient Greece and extending through ...
... women , no matter who the author was . " " 16 The denunciation of women , as Christine acknowl- edges , constitutes something of a cultural constant . Reaching back to the Old Testament and to ancient Greece and extending through ...
Contents
1 | |
ONE Molestiae Nuptiarum and the Yahwist Creation | 13 |
TWO Early Christianity and the Estheticization of Gender | 37 |
THREE Devils Gateway and Bride of Christ | 65 |
FOUR The Poetics of Virginity | 93 |
FIVE The Old French Lay and the Myriad Modes of Male Indiscretion | 113 |
Other editions - View all
Medieval Misogyny and the Invention of Western Romantic Love R. Howard Bloch No preview available - 1992 |
Common terms and phrases
according Adam amor Andreas Capellanus antifeminism antifeminist Art of Courtly ascetic asceticism Augustine beautiful Bernart bien Body and Society BRIDE OF CHRIST century chapter Chastelaine de Vergi chastity Chaucer church fathers cited courtly love culture Dame daughter death desire Devil's gateway discourse of misogyny dowry droit Duby early Christian example fabliau female feminine feminism femme flesh Fontevrault Guigemar husband Ibid ideal Ignauré implies Jaufré Rudel Jean Jerome John Chrysostom knight lady language Lanval Laüstic literary literature logic lover lyric Marie de France marriage medieval Middle Ages misogynistic misogyny mother nature paradox Paris patristic Physician's Tale poet poetic Poitou POWER OF WOMEN Press question relation rhetoric Robert d'Arbrissel Roman romantic love Rougemont seen sense sexual social song speak synonymous Tertullian tion topos tradition trans troubadour University virginity wife William IX woman WOMEN TO DISPOSE words writes Yahwist