Form and Foreskin : Medieval Narratives of Circumcision /
Strouse, A. W.
Form and Foreskin : Medieval Narratives of Circumcision / A. W. Strouse. - 1 online resource (144 p.)
Frontmatter -- Contents -- Introduction -- 1. The Gospel According to the Foreskin -- 2. Saint Augustine and the Boy with the Long Foreskin -- 3. Nicking Sir Gawain -- 4. The Foreskin of Marriage -- Coda -- Acknowledgments -- Notes -- Index
restricted access http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec
Why did Saint Augustine ask God to “circumcise [his] lips”? Why does Sir Gawain cut off the Green Knight’s head on the Feast of the Circumcision? Is Chaucer’s Wife of Bath actually—as an early glossator figures her—a foreskin? And why did Ezra Pound claim that he had incubated The Waste Land inside of his uncut member? In this little book, A. W. Strouse excavates a poetics of the foreskin, uncovering how Patristic theologies of circumcision came to structure medieval European literary aesthetics. Following the writings of Saint Paul, “circumcision” and “uncircumcision” become key terms for theorizing language—especially the dichotomies between the mere text and its extended exegesis, between brevity and longwindedness, between wisdom and folly. Form and Foreskin looks to three works: a peculiar story by Saint Augustine about a boy with the long foreskin; Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; and Chaucer’s Wife of Bath’s Tale. By examining literary scenes of cutting and stretching, Strouse exposes how Patristic treatments of circumcision queerly govern medieval poetics.
Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
In English.
9780823294749 9780823294770
10.1515/9780823294770 doi
Circumcision in literature.
Literature, Medieval--History and criticism.
Literary Studies.
Medieval Studies.
Queer Theory.
LITERARY CRITICISM / Medieval.
Chaucer. Circumcision. Saint Augustine. Saint Paul. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. foreskin. medieval. poetry. queer theory. theology.
809/.02
Form and Foreskin : Medieval Narratives of Circumcision / A. W. Strouse. - 1 online resource (144 p.)
Frontmatter -- Contents -- Introduction -- 1. The Gospel According to the Foreskin -- 2. Saint Augustine and the Boy with the Long Foreskin -- 3. Nicking Sir Gawain -- 4. The Foreskin of Marriage -- Coda -- Acknowledgments -- Notes -- Index
restricted access http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec
Why did Saint Augustine ask God to “circumcise [his] lips”? Why does Sir Gawain cut off the Green Knight’s head on the Feast of the Circumcision? Is Chaucer’s Wife of Bath actually—as an early glossator figures her—a foreskin? And why did Ezra Pound claim that he had incubated The Waste Land inside of his uncut member? In this little book, A. W. Strouse excavates a poetics of the foreskin, uncovering how Patristic theologies of circumcision came to structure medieval European literary aesthetics. Following the writings of Saint Paul, “circumcision” and “uncircumcision” become key terms for theorizing language—especially the dichotomies between the mere text and its extended exegesis, between brevity and longwindedness, between wisdom and folly. Form and Foreskin looks to three works: a peculiar story by Saint Augustine about a boy with the long foreskin; Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; and Chaucer’s Wife of Bath’s Tale. By examining literary scenes of cutting and stretching, Strouse exposes how Patristic treatments of circumcision queerly govern medieval poetics.
Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
In English.
9780823294749 9780823294770
10.1515/9780823294770 doi
Circumcision in literature.
Literature, Medieval--History and criticism.
Literary Studies.
Medieval Studies.
Queer Theory.
LITERARY CRITICISM / Medieval.
Chaucer. Circumcision. Saint Augustine. Saint Paul. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. foreskin. medieval. poetry. queer theory. theology.
809/.02