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  • © 2003

Homoeroticism and Chivalry

Discourses of Male Same-sex Desire in the 14th Century

Palgrave Macmillan

Part of the book series: The New Middle Ages (TNMA)

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Table of contents (8 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xi
  2. Articulating Premodern Male Homoeroticism

    1. Articulating Premodern Male Homoeroticism

      • Richard E. Zeikowitz
      Pages 1-15
  3. Affirmations of Male Same-Sex Desire

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 17-25
    2. Chivalric Bonds and the Ideals of Friendship

      • Richard E. Zeikowitz
      Pages 27-43
    3. Competing Desires

      • Richard E. Zeikowitz
      Pages 45-66
    4. Homoerotic Identifications

      • Richard E. Zeikowitz
      Pages 67-83
    5. Male-Male Gazing

      • Richard E. Zeikowitz
      Pages 85-99
  4. Denigrations of Male Same-Sex Desire

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 101-106
    2. Sodomy, Politics, and Male-Male Desire

      • Richard E. Zeikowitz
      Pages 107-129
    3. Afterword

      • Richard E. Zeikowitz
      Pages 151-153
  5. Back Matter

    Pages 155-216

About this book

Zeikowitz explores both affirming and denigrating discourses of male same-sex desire in diverse fourteenth-century chivalric texts and describes the sociopolitical forces motivating those discourses. He attempts to dethrone traditional heteronormative views by drawing attention to culturally normative 'queer' desire. Zeikowitz articulates possible homoeroticized spectatorial interactions between male readers and imagined or actual model knights, dramatized accounts of same-sex unions, and mutually stimulating - or competing - forces of homosocial and heterosexual desire in chivalric texts, such as Charny's Book of Chivalry , Sir Gawain and the Green Knight , and Troilus and Criseyde . He also examines how intimate male bonds are rendered sodomitically-inflected, dangerous attachments in chronicle narratives of the reigns of Edward II and Richard II.

About the author

RICHARD E. ZEIKOWITZ is Assistant Professor of English at the University of South Alabama.

Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 44.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 59.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access