Book contents
- The Cambridge History of Gay and Lesbian Literature
- The Cambridge History of Gay and Lesbian Literature
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Reading Ancient and Classical Cultures
- 1 The Sappho Tradition
- 2 Plato and the Philosophical Dialogue
- 3 The Pastoral Lament in Ancient Greek and Latin
- 4 Roman Prose and Poetry
- 5 Configurations of Gender and Sexuality in Medieval Europe
- 6 Male-Male Love in Classical Arabic Poetry
- 7 China: Ancient to Modern
- Part II Renaissance and Early Modern
- Part III Enlightenment Cultures
- Part IV Queer Modernisms
- Part V Geographies of Same-Sex Desire in the Modern World
- Part VI Genres of the Present
- Index
5 - Configurations of Gender and Sexuality in Medieval Europe
from Part I - Reading Ancient and Classical Cultures
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 December 2014
Book contents
- The Cambridge History of Gay and Lesbian Literature
- The Cambridge History of Gay and Lesbian Literature
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Reading Ancient and Classical Cultures
- 1 The Sappho Tradition
- 2 Plato and the Philosophical Dialogue
- 3 The Pastoral Lament in Ancient Greek and Latin
- 4 Roman Prose and Poetry
- 5 Configurations of Gender and Sexuality in Medieval Europe
- 6 Male-Male Love in Classical Arabic Poetry
- 7 China: Ancient to Modern
- Part II Renaissance and Early Modern
- Part III Enlightenment Cultures
- Part IV Queer Modernisms
- Part V Geographies of Same-Sex Desire in the Modern World
- Part VI Genres of the Present
- Index
Summary
The discovery of historical genders and sexualities offers the possibility of establishing continuities between the past and present that allow for identification and a more nuanced understanding of contemporary categories. Sexually, femininity was defined by the passive position in heterosexual intercourse, and yet, one of the principal medieval associations with femininity was sexual voracity. The survey of genders and sexualities discussed in this chapter is organized around a few configurations found in medieval literary texts. Beginning in the twelfth century, the literature of romance initiated a new model of heroic masculinity in tandem with the invention of heterosexual courtly love. Same-sex desire in the Middle Ages appears most often in the context of friendship. Virginity provided a kind of gender transitivity for women in a way that it did not for male saints. Finally, the chapter addresses literary representations of gender transgression and sexual acts between members of the same sex.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge History of Gay and Lesbian Literature , pp. 89 - 106Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2014