Prostitution in Medieval and Early Modern Literature

The Dark Side of Sex and Love in the Premodern Era

Prostitution in Medieval and Early Modern Literature cover

Prostitution in Medieval and Early Modern Literature

The Dark Side of Sex and Love in the Premodern Era

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Description

Prostitution is known as the oldest profession in the history of humanity. While historians have already given due consideration to the profession’s social and cultural meanings across time periods, little has been written about literary representations of prostitution. Prostitution in Medieval and Early Modern Literature analyses the work of writers from an array of social positions, including courtly poets and even religious writers, dealing with the topic during the medieval and early modern periods. Its study shows that prostitutes and brothel owners were present on the literary stage far more often than we might have assumed. Utilizing an interdisciplinary approach and incorporating relevant sources from across the entire European continent dating from the early Middle Ages to the sixteenth century, it examines the phenomenon of prostitution in a variety of contexts and highlights the extent to which the institution mattered for both the higher and the lower classes.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. Prostitution: A Historical Phenomenon from Late Antiquity to the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Ages, Mirrored in Literary Documents

Chapter 2. Modern Voices and Witnesses of Prostitution in Literature

Chapter 3. The Canoness Hrotsvit and the Prostitute: An Early Medieval Playwright and Her Responses to the “Sordid” World of Prostitution

Chapter 4. Christine de Pizan’s Advice to Prostitutes: A Late Medieval Perspective by a Woman Writer Regarding Prostitution

Chapter 5. Prostitution in the Work of Late Medieval Poetry: Oswald von Wolkenstein (1376/77–1445)

Chapter 6. Prostitution in the Works by François Villon: Autobiographical-Erotic Discourse from the Underside of Courtly Culture

Chapter 7. The Prostitute as Protagonist: The Intriguing Case of Fernando de Rojas’s Celestina (1499)

Chapter 8. The Sojourn in a Brothel: An Unusual Perspective in a Late Medieval German Verse Narrative

Chapter 9. The Prostitute and Prostitution in Late Medieval and Early Modern German Song Poetry

Chapter 10. Prostitutes in fabliaux, mæren, and novelli: The Rise of Realism in Late Medieval and Early Modern Literature Seen through the Lens of Commodified Sexuality

Chapter 11. Prostitutes in Sixteenth-Century Schwänke (Prose Jest Narratives)



Epilogue

Product details

Published 18 Jul 2019
Format Ebook (PDF)
Edition 1st
Extent 1
ISBN 9781978756540
Imprint Lexington Books
Series Studies in Medieval Literature
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

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