Rivalrous Masculinities - by Ann Marie Rasmussen (Hardcover)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

Bringing together the work of both leading and emerging scholars in the field of medieval gender studies, the essays in Rivalrous Masculinities advance our understanding of medieval masculinity as a pluralized category and as an intersectional category of gender. The essays in this volume are distinguished by a conceptual focus that goes beyond heteronormativity and by their attention to constructions of medieval masculinity in the context of femininity, class, religion, and place. Some widen the field of medieval gender studies inquiry to include explorations of medieval friendship as a framework or culture of arousal and deep emotionality that produced multiple, complex ways of living intensely with respect to gender and sexuality, without reducing all forms of intimacy to implicit sexuality. Some examine intersections of identity, explicating change and difference in conventional modes of gender with regards to regional culture, religion, race, or class. In order to ground this intersectional and interdisciplinary approach with the appropriate disciplinary expertise, the essays in this volume represent a broad cross-section of disciplines: art history, religious studies, history, and French, Italian, German, Yiddish, Middle English, and Old English literature. Together, they open up new intellectual vistas for future research in the field of medieval gender studies.

Contributors include: Ann Marie Rasmussen, Clare A. Lees, Gillian R. Overing, J. Christian Straubhaar-Jones, Astrid Lembke, Darrin Cox, F. Regina Psaki, Corinne Wieben, Ruth Mazo Karras, Diane Wolfthal, Karma Lochrie, and Andreas Krass.

Review Quotes

"In 1994, the groundbreaking volume Medieval Masculinities appeared in print. More than twenty years later, Rivalrous Masculinities showcases state-of-the-art work in medieval masculinity studies. Ann Marie Rasmussen needs to be commended for having assembled an impressive collection of essays." --Helmut Puff, University of Michigan

"Taken together, the experts represented in this volume make a forceful case for the evolution and plurality of medieval masculinities, which were socially constructed, negotiated, and inherently competitive. This book is essential reading for students and scholars interested in multidisciplinary approaches to historical gender identity and culture." --Steven Bednarski, St. Jerome's University, University of Waterloo

"The essays in this book together make it clearer than ever that gender is never monolithic. Beyond reminding us in sophisticated and illuminating ways of this basic insight, however, the studies included demonstrate not only the plurality of medieval and early modern masculinities but also, and more significantly, that at the center of this plurality is rivalry. Multiple ways of 'acting like a man' mean that individuals (both men and women) will compete for the power and status this behavior will accord them. Focusing on both imagined and inhabited worlds from a variety of traditions, this book is a must read for anyone thinking in any way about gender and the past." --Sara S. Poor, Princeton University

"This is a really sparkling collection of essays. Overall, the volume addresses the concept(s) of medieval masculinity in the round, with a range of innovative and unusual perspectives. It represents an important contribution both to gender studies and to medieval studies." --Annette M. Volfing, Oriel College, University of Oxford

About the Author

Ann Marie Rasmussen is the Right Honourable John G. Diefenbaker Memorial Chair of German Literary Studies at the University of Waterloo. She is the author and editor of a number of books, including Visuality and Materiality in the Story of Tristan and Isolde, co-edited with Jutta Eming and Kathryn Starkey (University of Notre Dame Press, 2012).