Crossing Borders Love Between Women in Medieval French and Arabic
Literatures Sahar Amer Winner of the 2009 MLA Aldo and Jeanne
Scaglione Prize for comparative literary studies ""Crossing
Borders" is a bold and groundbreaking work. Situated at the nexus
of queer theory and postcolonial medievalism, it interrogates and
seeks to conjoin two significant areas of inquiry: the literary
representation of lesbianism and the influence of Arabic traditions
on medieval French narrative. Working across a range of genres in
both languages, Sahar Amer unearths hitherto unrecognized allusions
to lesbianism in Old French texts, arguing that these represent
traces of Arabic influence on the key genres of romance and
epic."--Sharon Kinoshita, University of California, Santa Cruz "A
must read for scholars working in Arabic and European medieval
studies, postcolonial theory, queer theory, gender and sexuality,
comparative literature, and a variety of other
disciplines."--"Journal of Arabic Literature" Given Christianity's
valuation of celibacy and its persistent association of sexuality
with the Fall and of women with sin, Western medieval attitudes
toward the erotic could not help but be vexed. In contrast,
eroticism is explicitly celebrated in a large number of
theological, scientific, and literary texts of the medieval Arab
Islamicate tradition, where sexuality was positioned at the very
heart of religious piety. In "Crossing Borders," Sahar Amer turns
to the rich body of Arabic sexological writings to focus, in
particular, on their open attitude toward erotic love between
women. By juxtaposing these Arabic texts with French works, she
reveals a medieval French literary discourse on same-sex desire and
sexual practices that has gone all but unnoticed. The Arabic
tradition on eroticism breaks through into French literary writings
on gender and sexuality in often surprising ways, she argues, and
she demonstrates how strategies of gender representation deployed
in Arabic texts came to be models to imitate, contest, subvert, and
at times censor in the West. Amer's analysis reveals Western
literary representations of gender in the Middle Ages as
cross-cultural, hybrid discourses as she reexamines
borders--cultural, linguistic, historical, geographic--not as
elements of separation and division but as fluid spaces of cultural
exchange, adaptation, and collaboration. Crossing these borders,
she salvages key Arabic and French writings on alternative sexual
practices from oblivion to give voice to a group that has long been
silenced. Sahar Amer is Associate Professor of Asian and
International Studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel
Hill. The Middle Ages Series 2008 264 pages 6 x 9 ISBN
978-0-8122-4087-0 Cloth $59.95s 39.00 ISBN 978-0-8122-0108-6 Ebook
$59.95s 39.00 World Rights Literature, Women's/Gender Studies Short
copy: "Crossing Borders" explores cross-cultural representations of
gender and sexual practices in the medieval French and Arabic
traditions. Amer demonstrates that the medieval Arabic tradition on
eroticism played a determining role in French literary writings on
gender and sexuality in the Middle Ages.
General
Imprint: |
University of PennsylvaniaPress
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Series: |
The Middle Ages Series |
Release date: |
July 2008 |
First published: |
2008 |
Authors: |
Sahar Amer
|
Dimensions: |
229 x 152 x 27mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Hardcover
|
Pages: |
264 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-8122-4087-0 |
Categories: |
Books
|
LSN: |
0-8122-4087-1 |
Barcode: |
9780812240870 |
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