The Construction and Interrogation of Gender in Old French Romance

doi:10.1017/9781108783033.011

9 - The Construction and Interrogation of Gender in Old French Romance

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 May 2023

Kathy M. Krause

Edited by

Roberta L. Krueger

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Roberta L. Krueger: Affiliation:
Hamilton College, New York

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Summary

Focusing on the so-called “romances of adventure” (romans d’aventure) which made up the largest and most popular category of romances, this chapter provides representative glimpses of how complicated, and fluid, the presentation of gender is in romance. It primarily examines romances written in French because they were the earliest to be written and served as the model for most of those we find in other western European languages, as it explores how binaries such as passive/active and male/female were complicated by deliberate strategies on the part of authors (and patrons).

Keywords

gender heroine female characerters homosexuality Lancelot chivalric masculinity Jean Renart l’Escoufle

Type: Chapter
Information: The New Cambridge Companion to Medieval Romance , pp. 135 - 149

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108783033.011 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2023

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References

Suggestions for Further Reading

Amer, Sahar. Crossing Borders: Love between Women in Medieval French and Arabic Literature. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008.CrossRef Google Scholar

Bouchard, Constance Britain. Strong of Body, Brave and Noble: Chivalry and Society in Medieval France. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1998.Google Scholar

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Burgwinkle, William E. Sodomy, Masculinity, and Law in Medieval Literature: France and England, 1050–1230. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.Google Scholar

Burns, E. Jane. Courtly Love Undressed: Reading through Clothes in Medieval French Culture. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002.Google Scholar

Busby, Keith. “‘Plus Acesmez Qu’une Popine”: Male Cross-Dressing in Medieval French Narrative.” In Gender Transgressions: Crossing the Normative Barrier in Old French Literature, ed. Taylor, Karen J.. New York: Garland, 1998, pp. 45–59.Google Scholar

Gaunt, Simon. Gender and Genre in Medieval French Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995 (in particular, chapter 3: “The Knight Meets his Match: Romance”).CrossRef Google Scholar

Karras, Ruth Mazo. From Boys to Men: Formations of Masculinity in Late Medieval Europe. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002.Google Scholar

Krueger, Roberta L. Women Readers and the Ideology of Gender in Old French Verse Romance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.Google Scholar

Lees, Clare E., Fenster, Thelma and McNamara, JoAnn (eds.) Medieval Masculinities: Regarding Men in the Middle Ages. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1994.Google Scholar

Marchello-Nizia, Christiane. “Amour courtois, société masculine et figures du pouvoir.” Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales 36, 6 (Nov.–Dec.) (1981): 969–82.Google Scholar