Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index

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Record Number: 4689 Author(s)/Creator(s): Contributor(s): Title: Bodily Peril: Sexuality and the Subversion of Order in Jean de Meun's "Roman de la Rose" Source: Modern Language Review 95, 1 (January 2000): Pages 41 - 61. Description: Article Type: Journal Article Subject (See Also): Binary Opposition Body Gender in Literature Genius (Literary Figure) Jean de Meun, Poet- Roman de la Rose Literature- Verse Misogyny in Literature Order Reason (Literary Figure) Sexuality in Literature Vieille (Literary Figure) Award Note: Geographic Area: France Century: 13 Primary Evidence: Illustrations: Table: Abstract: This study examines representations of gender, sexuality, and the human body in Jean de Meun's portion of the "Roman de la Rose." Jean explores these fundamental themes through an extremely dense network of associated images and motifs, revolving around a series of interrelated binary oppositions: body and soul, letter and spirit, nature and culture, matter and form. Thus the female body, object of male desire and medium for the propagation of the male lineage, is analogous to the text that is glossed or decoded by the male reader, and to the natural world that is subjugated through the technologies of civilization. Jean's comic treatment of these issues results in a vision of heterosexuality as a force that threatens to subvert the very cosmic, natural, social, and semiotic orders to which it is none the less essential. [Reproduced by permission of the Modern Language Review]. Related Resources: Author's Affiliation: Conference Info: - , - Year of Publication: 2000. Language: English ISSN/ISBN: 00267937

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