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Kohl Thesis Final.pdf (419.6 KB)

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Moments and Futures: Queer Identity in Medieval Literature of the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries

Kohl, David
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1555943642040506

Abstract Details

2019, MA, Kent State University, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of English.
This thesis examines queer identity in the twelfth-century theological treatise Spiritual Friendship by Aelred of Rievaulx, and the anonymous thirteenth-century Aucassin and Nicolette. I argue that these texts queer medieval and contemporary understandings of gender and sexuality, both spiritually and narratively. In Part One of this project, I focus on Rievaulx Abbey in the North of England as a space for free expression from strict social binaries of sex and gender. Here I focus on Aelred, an abbot who promoted close, intimate bonds with others as a means of understanding theological notions of God in his text, Spiritual Friendship. Rather than contributing to the exploration of Aelred sexuality as a gay man, my aim in this chapter is to offer a shift in focus towards Aelred’s gender expression and performance. Ultimately, I argue, Aelred queers traditional notions of love, God, and Cistercian theology through his emphasis on community and shared love in Spiritual Friendship. In Part Two, I move from English mysticism to French chantefable, or “song-story,” in Aucassin and Nicolette. I argue that the text engenders in its two main characters queer identity through the inversion of traditional gender roles. Further, I argue that the performative aspect of the text allows for a dispersal of transgressive, queer identity via performance. In doing so, I push the definition of queer further than the tale’s characters, arguing that the text itself becomes queer in its interaction with the reader. In expanding the genre and scope of this project from twelfth-century England to thirteenth-century France, I illustrate how expansive queer identity was in the Middle Ages.
Christopher Roman (Advisor)
Ryan Hediger (Committee Member)
Ann Martinez (Committee Member)
75 p.
Gender Studies; Glbt Studies; Literature; Medieval History; Medieval Literature; Middle Ages
Medieval literature; Gender; Sexuality; Queer Identity; Theology; Queer Theory; Middle Ages

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Kohl, D. (2019). Moments and Futures: Queer Identity in Medieval Literature of the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries [Master's thesis, Kent State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1555943642040506

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Kohl, David. Moments and Futures: Queer Identity in Medieval Literature of the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries . 2019. Kent State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1555943642040506.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Kohl, David. "Moments and Futures: Queer Identity in Medieval Literature of the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries ." Master's thesis, Kent State University, 2019. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1555943642040506

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

kent1555943642040506
414
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This open access ETD is published by Kent State University and OhioLINK.