Allegory and Sexual Ethics in the High Middle Ages [Paperback]

Guynn offers an innovative new approach to the ethical, cultural, and ideological analysis of medieval allegory. Working between poststructuralism and historical materialism, he considers both the playfulness of allegory and its disciplinary force.Rhetoric, Evil, and Privation: From Augustine to the Persecuting Society Sodomy, Courtly Love, and the Birth of Romance: Le roman d'Eneas Allegory and Perversion in Alan of Lille's De planctu Naturae Authorship and Sexual/Allegorical Violence in Jean de Meun's Roman de la Rose

For the researcher and scholar, Noah Guynn's main argument is an important one, and his 'minor threads' are illuminating and full of potential - a small volume to be highly recommended. - Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Teaching

'Through a series of keenly intelligent readings Guynn deftly tracks the complex interrelations of allegory and ethics in the High Middle Ages. Relentlessly ideological - at once transcendental and ambiguous- allegory, he argues, works to privilege some readers and exclude others. Guynn's clear and nimble prose invites all readers to consider afresh the machinations of this pervasive medieval discursive mode.' - Carolyn Dinshaw, New York University; Author of Getting Medieval: Sexualities and Communities, Pre- and Postmodern

'Allegory and Sexual Ethics in the High Middle Ages will give literary critics and historians of sexuality alike pause for thought. Whereas the formal and playful dimensions of allegory - and particularly sexual allegory - have received a good deal of attention recently, Noah Guynn shows that allegorical texts frequently also have a serious, indeed ethical dimension that makes them at one and the same time harshly coercive, yet troublingly indeterminate. Re-reading familiar texts such as the De planctu Naturae[NG1] , the Eneas, and the Rose with him is a revelatory experience, and his crisp close readings are always illuminating.' - Simon Gaunt, King's ClCï