Women and Marriage in German Medieval Romance: 74 (Cambridge Studies in Medieval Literature, Series Number 74)

Women and Marriage in German Medieval Romance: 74 (Cambridge Studies in Medieval Literature, Series Number 74)
by D. H. Green (Author)
Publisher: Cambridge University Press; 1st edition (2 April 2009)
Language: English
Hardcover: 274 pages
ISBN-10: 0521513359
ISBN-13: 9780521513357
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Book Description
In contrast to the widespread view that the Middle Ages were a static, unchanging period in which attitudes to women were uniformly negative, D. H. Green argues that around 1200 the conventional relationship between men and women was subject to significant challenge through discussions in the vernacular literature of the period. Hitherto scholarly interest in gender relations in such literature has largely focused on French romance or on literature in English from a later period. By turning the focus on the rich material to be garnered from Germany – the romances Erec, Tristan and Parzival – Professor Green shows how some vernacular writers devised methods to debate and challenge the undoubted antifeminism of the day by presenting a Utopian model, supported by a revision of views by the Church, to contrast with contemporary practice.