Amoral Gower: Language, Sex, and Politics: 38 (Medieval Cultures) - Softcover

Watt, Diane

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0816640289 ISBN 13: 9780816640287

Publisher: Univ Of Minnesota Press, 2003

Synopsis

An innovative reading of John Gower’s work and an exciting new approach to medieval vernacular texts

“Moral Gower” he was called by friend and sometime rival Geoffrey Chaucer, and his “Confessio Amantis” has been viewed as an uncomplicated analysis of the universe, combining erotic narratives with ethical guidance and political commentary. Diane Watt offers the first sustained reading of John Gower’s “Confessio” to argue that this early vernacular text offers no real solutions to the ethical problems it raises—and in fact actively encourages perverse readings.

Drawing on a combination of queer and feminist theory, ethical criticism, and psychoanalytic, historicist, and textual criticism, Watt focuses on the language, sex, and politics in Gower’s writing. How, she asks, is Gower’s “Confessio” related to contemporary controversies over vernacular translation and debates about language politics? How is Gower’s treatment of rhetoric and language gendered and sexualized, and what bearing does this have on the ethical and political structure of the text? What is the relationship between the erotic, ethical, and political sections of “Confessio Amantis”? Watt demonstrates that Gower engaged in the sort of critical thinking more commonly associated with Chaucer and William Langland at the same time that she contributes to modern debates about the ethics of criticism.

About this title

About the Author

Diane Watt is senior lecturer in English at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth.

Edition details

• Publisher: Univ Of Minnesota Press
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0816640289
• ISBN 13: 9780816640287
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240