Papers by Louise Sylvester
Boydell and Brewer eBooks, Dec 31, 2010
Medieval Romance and the Construction of Heterosexuality, 2008
This chapter follows on from the last both in its attention to the narrative of Troilus and Crise... more This chapter follows on from the last both in its attention to the narrative of Troilus and Criseyde and its exploration of the sadomasochistic dynamic that structures heterosexual sexual encounters. Examination of the masculine role in medieval (and modern) romance literature provides further evidence for the interpretation of heterosexual sexual encounters within our dominant cultural narratives. These, in turn, form the symbolic structures in which we live. One problem, outlined in the first chapter, concerns the difficulty of distinguishing heterosexual sex from rape without making the woman’s explicit consent the only pivot for the distinction. The difficulty is made acute by the overwhelming evidence that it is the woman’s “no” that materializes a sexual encounter within the cultural norms for heterosexuality. This dynamic requires the male romance hero to apply pressure, if not force, in the face of feminine resistance. Equally, however, notions of masculinity as revealed in medieval narratives, and in the fiction of our own time, appear unresolved in their attitudes toward heterosexual sexual expression and its role in the production of masculine identity.
Medieval Romance and the Construction of Heterosexuality, 2008
This chapter will focus on the feminine role within normative heterosexuality and its depiction i... more This chapter will focus on the feminine role within normative heterosexuality and its depiction in medieval romance in the light of representations of heterosexuality that are found within the legal discourses of the period. I shall argue that the version of heterosexual sexuality found in legal writing is reflected within literary texts. I suggest, too, that these norms and ideals have had a profound effect on the fantasies and longings of women. The configurations of romance that appear in novels and modern romantic fiction are in turn shaped by the desires of female readers and writers. Representations of heterosexuality found in the discourses of the medieval period are, I think, crucial to an understanding of the genre of romance and the desires that drive it.
Amsterdam studies in the theory and history of linguistic science, Aug 23, 2019
Several universal principles have been suggested that are supposed to limit the possible shape of... more Several universal principles have been suggested that are supposed to limit the possible shape of inflectional systems, such as the Principle of Iconicity and the Principle of Relevance. The paper presents two case-studies which clearly falsify the expectations arising from these two principles and cry for an explanation. This has to be sought in a conflict between general principles limiting the universal degree of variation tolerated by inflectional systems and System Adequacy, namely the tendency of an inflectional system of improving its internal consistency. The result is a more economic, i.e. less costly, representation of morphological information, at the expense of the violation of the universal principles caused by contra-iconic and anti-relevant coding strategies.
Journal of English and Germanic Philology, 2019
The Bilingual Thesaurus of Everyday Life in Medieval England contains vocabulary relating to seve... more The Bilingual Thesaurus of Everyday Life in Medieval England contains vocabulary relating to seven domains of everyday life: Building, Domestic Activities, Farming, Food Preparation, Manufacture, Trade, Travel by Water. Terms have been collected for two languages in use in Medieval England, Anglo French (also known as Anglo-Norman) and Middle English.
Modern Language Review, 2003
WestminsterResearch (University of Westminster), 2016
Boydell & Brewer, Mar 1, 2016
Medieval Romance and the Construction of Heterosexuality, 2008
In the romances so far examined, we see traces of a dynamic produced by views of female sexuality... more In the romances so far examined, we see traces of a dynamic produced by views of female sexuality that prevailed in the medieval period; the effects of this cultural context are seen in the versions of femininity found in the cultural narratives of romance and the law. In this chapter the focus will shift slightly to encompass notions of masculinity and the expectations of male gender roles constructed in and by religious thinking and fictional texts. As before, the primary data will be taken from medieval romance. Some elements in the constitution of the masculine hero in romance narratives of the medieval period appear to have been formative in the afterlife of romance fiction. Other aspects of masculinity explored in medieval romance have not survived the cultural shifts that have informed the genre.
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Papers by Louise Sylvester