Please note: In order to keep Hive up to date and provide users with the best features, we are no longer able to fully support Internet Explorer. The site is still available to you, however some sections of the site may appear broken. We would encourage you to move to a more modern browser like Firefox, Edge or Chrome in order to experience the site fully.

Supporting your high street Find out how »
Before the Closet : Same-Sex Love from "Beowulf" to "Angels in America", Paperback / softback Book

Before the Closet : Same-Sex Love from "Beowulf" to "Angels in America" Paperback / softback

Paperback / softback

Available to Order - This title is available to order, with delivery expected within 2 weeks

Description

This study challenges the long-held belief that the early Middle Ages tolerated and even fostered same-sex relations and that intolerance of homosexuality developed only late in the medieval period.

Th e text argues that early medieval Christians did not tolerate same-sex acts and, furthermore, that men and women during this time who preferred homosexual relations pursued their desires in spite of official sanctions.

This was an age before people recognized the existence - or the possibility - of the "closet".

This work focuses on Anglo-Saxon literature but also includes examinations of contemporary opera, dance and theatre.

The text employs the figure of the shadow to illustrate the coexistence of homosexual and heterosexual relations in the Middle Ages.

The figure is introduced through an analysis of a man's part sung by a woman in operas such as Gounod's "Faust".

The reverse figure - men taking women's parts - is traced in two dances by Mark Morris, "The Hard Nut" and "Dido and Aeneas".

Also analyzed is the white Anglo-Saxon Protestant in Tony Kushner's play, "Angels in America" and the poems, "Beowulf" and "The Wanderer".

Information

£28.00

Available to Order - This title is available to order, with delivery expected within 2 weeks
Add to Basket
Sign in to add to wishlist
 
Free Home Delivery

on all orders

 
Pick up orders

from local bookshops

Information