Kelly Performing Virginity and Testing Chastity in the Middle Ages

Erscheinungsjahr 2002
ISBN: 978-1-134-73756-7
Verlag: CRC Press
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 208 Seiten

Reihe: Routledge Research in Medieval Studies

This book challenges the belief that female virginity can be reliably and unambiguously defined, tested and verified. Kelly analyses a variety of medieval Western European texts - including medical treatises and their Classical antecedents - and historical and legal documents. The main focus is the representation of both male and female virgins in saints' legends and romances. The author also makes a comparative study of examples from contemporary fiction, television and film in which testing virginity is a theme. Performing Virginity and Testing Chastity in the Middle Ages presents a compelling and provocative study of the parodox of bodily and spiritual integrity as both presence and absence.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Kelly, Kathleen Coyne

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Alte Geschichte & Archäologie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction. Castitas/Virginitas

1. Hymenologies: the multiple signs of virginity

2. 'Armour of Proof': the virgin and the Church in hagiography

3. 'Love's Traces': the lady and test in romance

4. Oxymoronic bodies: male virgins in hagiography and romance

5. Multiple virgins and contemporary virginities