Gender and Voice in Medieval French Literature and Lyric
Sponsoring Organization(s)
Special Session
Organizer Name
Rachel May Golden, Katherine Kong
Organizer Affiliation
Univ. of Tennessee-Knoxville, Independent Scholar
Presider Name
Daisy Delogu
Presider Affiliation
Univ. of Chicago
Paper Title 1
"Weep, o men": Voice and Masculinity in Grieving for Kings
Presenter 1 Name
Rachel May Golden
Paper Title 2
"Cuers Diviers": The Gendering of Nature and Nurture in Silence and Perceval ou le conte du graal
Presenter 2 Name
Sara Rychtarik
Presenter 2 Affiliation
Graduate Center, CUNY
Start Date
15-5-2016 10:30 AM
Session Location
Schneider 1220
Description
This session employs gender as a critical category of analysis to examine the voiced nature of, and expressions of emotion in, medieval French literature, lyric, and song.
While studies of gender often focus on women’s experiences, this session proposes to employ gender inclusively to consider masculinities, femininities, their intersections, marked absences, and manifestations. This kind of analysis is particularly apt for medieval French literatures because of the explicitly voiced quality of these repertories and texts. From the first-person desires of the troubadours, to the gendered dialogues of the chanson de geste, medieval French texts powerfully speak in ways that continue to influence western cultural assumptions and inspire new intellectual investigations.
In particular, we aim to examine how writers, texts, and songs encode or shape gendered positions, variously complying with or subverting cultural expectations. Further, we seek to interrogate how emotion is voiced and enacted in gendered ways, especially emotions that are typically coded as masculine or feminine, such as epic grief, maternal lament, the sufferings of fin’amour, or knightly bravado and camaraderie. We also consider how such gendered voices are both performed and embodied as sites of desire, violence, dominance, and power. (Rachel May Golden & Katherine Kong, Co-Organizers)
Gender and Voice in Medieval French Literature and Lyric
Schneider 1220
This session employs gender as a critical category of analysis to examine the voiced nature of, and expressions of emotion in, medieval French literature, lyric, and song.
While studies of gender often focus on women’s experiences, this session proposes to employ gender inclusively to consider masculinities, femininities, their intersections, marked absences, and manifestations. This kind of analysis is particularly apt for medieval French literatures because of the explicitly voiced quality of these repertories and texts. From the first-person desires of the troubadours, to the gendered dialogues of the chanson de geste, medieval French texts powerfully speak in ways that continue to influence western cultural assumptions and inspire new intellectual investigations.
In particular, we aim to examine how writers, texts, and songs encode or shape gendered positions, variously complying with or subverting cultural expectations. Further, we seek to interrogate how emotion is voiced and enacted in gendered ways, especially emotions that are typically coded as masculine or feminine, such as epic grief, maternal lament, the sufferings of fin’amour, or knightly bravado and camaraderie. We also consider how such gendered voices are both performed and embodied as sites of desire, violence, dominance, and power. (Rachel May Golden & Katherine Kong, Co-Organizers)