Clothes Make the Man: Female Cross Dressing in Medieval Europe

ISBN-13: 9780815337713 / Angielski / Miękka / 1999 / 214 str.

Valerie R. Hotchkiss

Opis

In this book, the author explores medieval society's fascination with the cross-dressed woman, examining a wide variety of religious, literary, and historical sources that recordedinterpretations of sartorial attempts to overcome gender hierarchy and also illustrate, mainly through the device of inversion, a remarkabley sustained desire to examine an reexamine the nature of social gender identities. Included in the study are investigations of the symbolism underlying the lives of popular transvestite saints; the confluence of hagiography and biography in the historical case of Hildegund von Schonau; the juridical and theological arguments for and against the transvestism of Jeanne d'Arc; the legend of the female pope; the phenomenon of the abandoned wife in male disguise; and the characterization of female protagonists in courtly romance who experience a crisis of sexual identity.

Recenzje

"...a good research tool...worth reading." -- American Historical Review
"Valerie Hotchkiss very effectively synthesizes a large body of diverse medieval texts about female cross-dressing...Hotchkiss has made however a vital contribution to cultural analysis of gender in the Middle Ages." -- Arthuriana
"Makes excellent outside reading for advanced undergraduates. This book can instruct and interest readers of all levels." -- The Medieval Review
"This is an important and interesting book, which is written in a clear and accessible style, making it useful not only for the specialist but also for upper level undergraduate and post graduate students who wish to receive an introduction to the complexities of medieval gender roles." -- Parergon

Spis treści

Introduction * Female Men of God: Cross Dressing in Medieval Hagiography * Lives and Death of Hildegund Von Schsnau * Transvestism on Trial: The Case of Jeanne D'Arc * Female Pope and the Sin of Male Disguise * Disguised Wife Gender Inversion and Gender COnformity * Cross Dressing and Sexuality * Conclusions * Hagiographic Appendix: The Lives of the Transvestite Saints * Notes * Bibliography * Index

O autorze

Hotchkiss, Valerie R.