The Erotic in the Literature of Medieval Britain

This volume examines the erotic in the literature of medieval Britain, primarily in Middle English, but also in Latin, Welsh and Old French. Seeking to discover the nature of the erotic and how it differs from modern erotics, the contributors address topics such as the Wife of Bath's opinions on marital eroticism, the role of clothing and nudity, the tension between eroticism and transgression, the interplay between religion and the erotic, and the hedonistic horrors of the cannibalistic Giant of Mont St Michel. Contributors: ALEX DAVIS, SIMON MEECHAM-JONES, JANE BLISS, SUE NIEBRZYDOWSKI, KRISTINA HILDEBRAND, ANTHONY BALE, CORY JAMES RUSHTON, CORINNE SAUNDERS, AMANDA HOPKINS, ROBERT ROUSE, MARGARET ROBSON, THOMAS H. CROFTS III, MICHAEL CICHON. AMANDA HOPKINS teaches in the department of English and Comparative Literary Studies and the department of French at the University of Warwick; CORY RUSHTON is in the Department of English at St. Francis Xavier University, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Contents:

Introduction: The Revel, the Melodye and the Bisynesse of Solas / Cory J. Rushton, Amanda Hopkins 1 --

'So wel koude he me glose': The Wife of Bath and the Eroticism of Touch / Sue Niebrzydowski 18 --

The Lady's Man: Gawain as Lover in Middle English Literature / Cory J. Rushton 27 --

Erotic Magic: The Enchantress in Middle English Romance / Corinne Saunders 38 --

'wordy vnthur wede': Clothing, Nakedness and the Erotic in some Romances of Medieval Britain / Amanda Hopkins 53 --

'Some Like it Hot': The Medieval Eroticism of Heat / Robert Allen Rouse 71 --

How's Your Father? Sex and the Adolescent Girl in Sir Degarre / Margaret Robson 82 --

The Female 'Jewish' Libido in Medieval Culture / Anthony Bale 94 --

Eros and Error: Gross Sexual Transgression in the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi / Michael Cichon 105 --

Perverse and Contrary Deeds: The Giant of Mont Saint Michel and the Alliterative Morte Arthure / Thomas H. Crofts 116 --

Her Desire and His: Letters between Fifteenth-century Lovers / Kristina Hildebrand 132 --

Sex in the Sight of God: Theology and the Erotic in Peter of Blois' 'Grates ago veneri' / Simon Meecham-Jones 142 --

A Fine and Private Place / Jane Bliss 155 --

Erotic Historiography: Writing the Self and History in Twelfth-century Romance and the Renaissance / Alex Davis 164.