Crossing Borders

Love Between Women in Medieval French and Arabic Literatures

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, Medieval, Ancient & Classical
Cover of the book Crossing Borders by Sahar Amer, University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Sahar Amer ISBN: 9780812201086
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc. Publication: March 1, 2013
Imprint: University of Pennsylvania Press Language: English
Author: Sahar Amer
ISBN: 9780812201086
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.
Publication: March 1, 2013
Imprint: University of Pennsylvania Press
Language: English

Given Christianity's valuation of celibacy and its persistent association of sexuality with the Fall and of women with sin, Western medieval attitudes toward the erotic could not help but be vexed. In contrast, eroticism is explicitly celebrated in a large number of theological, scientific, and literary texts of the medieval Arab Islamicate tradition, where sexuality was positioned at the very heart of religious piety.

In Crossing Borders, Sahar Amer turns to the rich body of Arabic sexological writings to focus, in particular, on their open attitude toward erotic love between women. By juxtaposing these Arabic texts with French works, she reveals a medieval French literary discourse on same-sex desire and sexual practices that has gone all but unnoticed. The Arabic tradition on eroticism breaks through into French literary writings on gender and sexuality in often surprising ways, she argues, and she demonstrates how strategies of gender representation deployed in Arabic texts came to be models to imitate, contest, subvert, and at times censor in the West.

Amer's analysis reveals Western literary representations of gender in the Middle Ages as cross-cultural, hybrid discourses as she reexamines borders—cultural, linguistic, historical, geographic—not as elements of separation and division but as fluid spaces of cultural exchange, adaptation, and collaboration. Crossing these borders, she salvages key Arabic and French writings on alternative sexual practices from oblivion to give voice to a group that has long been silenced.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Given Christianity's valuation of celibacy and its persistent association of sexuality with the Fall and of women with sin, Western medieval attitudes toward the erotic could not help but be vexed. In contrast, eroticism is explicitly celebrated in a large number of theological, scientific, and literary texts of the medieval Arab Islamicate tradition, where sexuality was positioned at the very heart of religious piety.

In Crossing Borders, Sahar Amer turns to the rich body of Arabic sexological writings to focus, in particular, on their open attitude toward erotic love between women. By juxtaposing these Arabic texts with French works, she reveals a medieval French literary discourse on same-sex desire and sexual practices that has gone all but unnoticed. The Arabic tradition on eroticism breaks through into French literary writings on gender and sexuality in often surprising ways, she argues, and she demonstrates how strategies of gender representation deployed in Arabic texts came to be models to imitate, contest, subvert, and at times censor in the West.

Amer's analysis reveals Western literary representations of gender in the Middle Ages as cross-cultural, hybrid discourses as she reexamines borders—cultural, linguistic, historical, geographic—not as elements of separation and division but as fluid spaces of cultural exchange, adaptation, and collaboration. Crossing these borders, she salvages key Arabic and French writings on alternative sexual practices from oblivion to give voice to a group that has long been silenced.

More books from University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.

Cover of the book Daughters of the Trade by Sahar Amer
Cover of the book The American Revolution Reborn by Sahar Amer
Cover of the book William Penn and the Founding of Pennsylvania by Sahar Amer
Cover of the book Books Without Borders in Enlightenment Europe by Sahar Amer
Cover of the book Inventing the Egghead by Sahar Amer
Cover of the book American Justice 2017 by Sahar Amer
Cover of the book Maoists at the Hearth by Sahar Amer
Cover of the book Cancer in the Lives of Older Americans by Sahar Amer
Cover of the book From Civil Rights to Human Rights by Sahar Amer
Cover of the book Periodization and Sovereignty by Sahar Amer
Cover of the book An Age of Infidels by Sahar Amer
Cover of the book Global Downtowns by Sahar Amer
Cover of the book Corporation Nation by Sahar Amer
Cover of the book The Catholic Calumet by Sahar Amer
Cover of the book Human Rights and the Negotiation of American Power by Sahar Amer
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy