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IMC 2008: Sessions

Session 601: Gender in Old English Hagiographic Texts

Tuesday 8 July 2008, 11.15-12.45

Organiser:Jennifer Neville, Department of English, Royal Holloway, University of London
Moderator/Chair:Jennifer Neville, Department of English, Royal Holloway, University of London
Paper 601-aEmulating Sponsus Christus: Marriage and Masculinity in Ælfric's Lives of Saints
(Language: English)
Melanie Heyworth, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Sydney
Index terms: Gender Studies, Hagiography, Language and Literature - Old English, Religious Life
Paper 601-bThe Stripped Hero: Masculinity in the Old English Andreas
(Language: English)
Pirkko Koppinen, Department of English, Royal Holloway, University of London
Index terms: Gender Studies, Hagiography, Language and Literature - Old English, Rhetoric
Paper 601-cTransgender in the Desert: The Old English Life of Mary of Egypt
(Language: English)
Diane Watt, Department of English Literature & Creative Writing, Aberystwyth University
Clare A. Lees, Department of English Language & Literature, King's College London
Index terms: Gender Studies, Hagiography, Language and Literature - Old English, Women's Studies
Abstract

Gender is no longer solely an issue of women vs. men. In this session, we seek to explore gender in three very different Old English hagiographic texts. Melanie Heyworth will compare the construction of an active, masculine Christ with that of husbands in Ælfric's Lives of married saints. Pirkko Koppinen will offer a semiotic reading of the naked body in Andreas and explore what it is to be an adult male occupying the heroic space. Clare Lees and Diane Watt's joint paper will examine the complex interplay of gender issues in The Old English Life of Mary of Egypt.