In thirteen studies of representations of rape in Medieval and Early Modern literature by such authors as Chaucer, Shakespeare and Spenser, this volume argues that some form of sexual violence against women serves as a foundation of Western culture. The volume has two purposes: first, to explore the resistance these pervasive representations generate and have generated for readers - especially for the female reader- and second, to explore what these representations tell us about social formations governing the relationships between men and women. More particularly, Rose and Robertson are interested in how representations of rape manifest a given culture's understanding of the female subject in society.

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'Overall the collective intention to address this highly problematic issue of rape from a medieval and early-modern perspective is very laudable, and all authors challenge our traditional understanding of the some of the key texts in Middle English and Old French literature. This provocation proves to be stimulating and will engender future studies of this topic...Elizabeth Robertson and Christine Rose have a made a valid contribution to future investigations of rape in the Middle Age.' - Professor Albrecht Classen, Mediaevistik

About the authors

CHRISTINE ROSE is Associate Professor of English at Portland State University and has been a member of the Advisory Board of the Society for Medieval Feminist Scholarship.

ELIZABETH ROBERTSON is Associate Professor of English at the University of Colorado at Boulder and is founder editor of The Medieval Feminist Newsletter.

Bibliographic Information

Book Title: Representing Rape in Medieval and Early Modern Literature
Editors: Elizabeth Robertson, Christine M. Rose
Series Title: The New Middle Ages
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-10448-9
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan New York
eBook Packages: Palgrave Literature & Performing Arts Collection, Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Nature America Inc. 2001
Hardcover ISBN: 978-0-312-23648-9Published: 08 February 2002
Softcover ISBN: 978-1-349-63116-2Published: 08 February 2002
eBook ISBN: 978-1-137-10448-9Published: 30 April 2016
Series ISSN: 2945-5936
Series E-ISSN: 2945-5944
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: IX, 453
Topics: Medieval Literature, History of Medieval Europe, Classical and Antique Literature, Social History, Gender Studies, Early Modern/Renaissance Literature

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Table of contents (15 chapters)

Front Matter

Introduction

Reading and Teaching Rape

Front Matter

The Philomel Legacy

Front Matter

Law, Consent, Subjectivity

Front Matter

Reading Rape: The Canonical Artist, the Feminist Reader, and Male Poetics

Front Matter

Afterword

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