Description
Book SynopsisObscenity is central to an understanding of medieval culture, and it is here examined in a number of different media. Obscenity is, if nothing else, controversial. Its definition, consumption and regulation fire debate about the very meaning of art and culture, law, politics and ideology. And it is often, erroneously, assumed to be synonymous with modernity. Medieval Obscenities examines the complex and contentious role of the obscene - what is offensive, indecent or morally repugnant - in medieval culture from late antiquity through to the end of the Middle Ages in western Europe. Its approach is multidisciplinary, its methodologies divergent and it seeks to formulate questions and stimulate debate. The essays examine topics as diverse as Norse defecation taboos, the Anglo-Saxon sexual idiom, sheela-na-gigs, impotence in the church courts, bare ecclesiastical bottoms, rude sounds and dirty words, as well as the modern reception and representation of the medieval obscene. They demonstrate not only the vitality of medieval obscenity, but its centrality to our understanding of the Middle Ages and ourselves. Contributors: MICHAEL CAMILLE, GLENN DAVIS, EMMA DILLON, SIMON GAUNT, JEREMY GOLDBERG, EAMONN KELLY, CAROLYNE LARRINGTON, NICOLAMCDONALD, ALASTAIR MINNIS, DANUTA SHANZER
Trade ReviewEspecially welcome for its range of theoretical perspectives on what remains a tricky subject. * MEDIUM AEVUM *
Very fine case studies...we get smart new perspectives on medieval art, architecture, literature, language and law, as well as on sex, bodily functions and the establishment and subversion of norms. * TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT *
Demonstrate[s] beyond doubt that the middle ages had a sophisticated awareness of the obscene. * HISTORY *
Table of ContentsIntroduction - Nicola F McDonald Dr Witkowski's Anus: French Doctors, German Homosexuals and the Obscene in Medieval Church Art - Michael Camille The Exeter Book Riddles and the Place of Sexual Idiom in Old English Literature - Glenn Davis Representing Obscene Sound - Emma Dillon Obscene Hermeneutics in Troubadour Lyric - Simon Gaunt John Skathelok's Dick: Voyeurism and "Pornography" in Late Medieval England - P J P Goldberg Irish Sheella-na-gigs and Related Figures with Reference to the Collections of the National Museum of Ireland - Eamonn Kelly Diet, Defecation and the Devil: Disgust and the Pagan Past - Carolyne Larrington From Coilles to Bel Chose: Discourses of Obscenity in Jean de Meun and Chaucer - Alastair J Minnis Latin Literature, Christianity and Obscenity in the Later Roman West - Danuta Shanzer
