
Of Giants
Sex, Monsters, and the Middle Ages
Jeffrey Jerome Cohen(Author)
University of Minnesota Press
Published on 1. May 1999
Book
Paperback/Softback
260 pages
978-0-8166-3217-6 (ISBN)
Description
Considers what monsters tell us about identity in the medieval period.
A monster lurks at the heart of medieval identity, and this book seeks him out. Reading a set of medieval texts in which giants and dismemberment figure prominently, Jeffrey Jerome Cohen brings a critical psychoanalytic perspective to bear on the question of identity formation-particularly masculine identity-in narrative representation. The giant emerges here as an intimate stranger, a monster who stands at the limits of selfhood.
Arguing that in the romance tradition of late fourteenth-century England, identity is inscribed on sexed bodies only through the agency of a monster, Cohen looks at the giant as the masculine body writ large. In the giant he sees an uncanny figure, absolutely other and curiously familiar, that serves to define the boundaries of masculine embodiment. Philosophically compelling, the book is also a philologically rigorous inquiry into the phenomenon of giants and giant-slaying in various texts from the Anglo-Saxon period to late Middle English, including Beowulf, ChrEtien de Troyes's The Knight and the Lion, Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain, several works by Chaucer, Sir Gowther, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and more.
A significant contribution to our understanding of medieval culture, Of Giants also provides surprising insights into questions about the psychosocial work of representation in its key location for the individual: the construction of gender and the social formation of the boundaries of gender identification. It will engage students of the Middle Ages as well as those interested in discourses of the body, social identity, and the grotesque.
ISBN 0-8166-3216-2 Cloth GBP00.00 $47.95xx
ISBN 0-8166-3217-0 Paper GBP00.00 $18.95x
240 Pages 5 black-and-white photos 5 7/8 x 9 May
Medieval Cultures Series, volume 17
Translation inquiries: University of Minnesota Press
A monster lurks at the heart of medieval identity, and this book seeks him out. Reading a set of medieval texts in which giants and dismemberment figure prominently, Jeffrey Jerome Cohen brings a critical psychoanalytic perspective to bear on the question of identity formation-particularly masculine identity-in narrative representation. The giant emerges here as an intimate stranger, a monster who stands at the limits of selfhood.
Arguing that in the romance tradition of late fourteenth-century England, identity is inscribed on sexed bodies only through the agency of a monster, Cohen looks at the giant as the masculine body writ large. In the giant he sees an uncanny figure, absolutely other and curiously familiar, that serves to define the boundaries of masculine embodiment. Philosophically compelling, the book is also a philologically rigorous inquiry into the phenomenon of giants and giant-slaying in various texts from the Anglo-Saxon period to late Middle English, including Beowulf, ChrEtien de Troyes's The Knight and the Lion, Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain, several works by Chaucer, Sir Gowther, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and more.
A significant contribution to our understanding of medieval culture, Of Giants also provides surprising insights into questions about the psychosocial work of representation in its key location for the individual: the construction of gender and the social formation of the boundaries of gender identification. It will engage students of the Middle Ages as well as those interested in discourses of the body, social identity, and the grotesque.
ISBN 0-8166-3216-2 Cloth GBP00.00 $47.95xx
ISBN 0-8166-3217-0 Paper GBP00.00 $18.95x
240 Pages 5 black-and-white photos 5 7/8 x 9 May
Medieval Cultures Series, volume 17
Translation inquiries: University of Minnesota Press
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Minnesota
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 149 mm
Thickness: 15 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-8166-3217-6 (9780816632176)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Jeffrey Jerome Cohen is associate professor of English and human sciences at George Washington University. His books include Monster Theory (Minnesota, 1996).