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Voices of Mortal and Otherworld Women in Medieval Irish Literature
Published on 15. April 2024
Book
Hardback
230 pages
978-0-88844-236-9 (ISBN)
Description
Otherworld women feature in a number of medieval Irish tales. They are not always powerful figures, and their struggles often mirror those of mortal women; authors apparently found them useful for exploring social tensions and issues of contemporary concern. This volume analyzes female figures as literary characters, rather than as mythological beings, focusing on their expression of emotions and the repercussions for the societies depicted in the narratives. Drawing on gender analysis, speech act theory, narratology, disability theory, and trauma theory, and incorporating recent work on emotions in medieval literature, this study probes the representation of both mortal and Otherworld women as active and desiring subjects and the responses that their words and actions might have generated in their medieval audiences.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Canada
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
Illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
522 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-88844-236-9 (9780888442369)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Joanne Findon earned her MA and PhD at the Centre for Medieval Studies in the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on women's speech and agency in medieval Irish and English literature. Her book Lady, Hero, Saint: The Digby Play's Mary Magdalene (2011) explores the influences of secular literature on the representation of the central female character in a Middle English religious play. Her most recent work continues the exploration of women's voice, agency and emotion in medieval Irish literature that she began in A Woman's Words: Emer and Female Speech in the Ulster Cycle (1997), extending the analysis to a number of lesser-known medieval Irish tales. She is Professor Emerita of English Literature at Trent University, where she spent more than two decades teaching courses in medieval romance, Chaucer, medieval drama, creative writing, and children's literature. She lives in Toronto.