First published 2001 by Garland Publishing. This edition published 2013 by Routledge.
The book examines, in approximate chronological order, Hartmanns' 'Erec' and 'Iwein', Wolfram's 'Parzival', and Gottfried's 'Tristan' to describe "the way in which the construction of romances pace participates in... gender construction", and the way in which the works show increasingly complex patterns of gender topography. The author combines various theoretical approaches, most notably those of Judith
Butler's 'Gender Trouble' (1990), Derek Gregory's 'Geographical Imaginations' (1994), and Sigrid Weigel's 'Topographien der Geschlechter' (1990), to reach a definition of gender topographies as culturally specific patterns of spaces in which encounters integral to the process of becoming male or female take place.
Author(s): Alexandra Sterling-Hellenbrand
Series: Studies in Medieval History and Culture, 2
Edition: Reprint
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2013
Language: English
Pages: 262
City: New York
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Cultural Topography and Arthurian Romance
Introduction
Cultural Topography
Romance Space
Gender Topographies
The Reality of Courtly Romance
The Experiment of Fiction
The Gender Question
Gender, Romance, and the Issue of Space
2. The Topography of Hartmann von Aue: Negotiating Spaces and Power in "Erec" and "Iwein"
"Erec": "wan bî den liuten ist sô guot"
"Iwein": A Woman's Place Is Her Castle
3. The Topography of Wolfram von Eschenbach: Spaces of "Becoming" and "Being" in "Parzival"
Wolfram's Reaction to Hartmann
Wolfram's Worlds
The Orient
The Courtly (Arthurian) World
The Grail World
4. The Topography of Gottfried von Strassburg: Places to Play in "Tristan"
Gottfried and His Contemporaries
A Place for Noble Hearts
"Real" Places
The Forest Transformed
Ireland: A Mother's Place, An Other Space
Cornwall: A Place for Two to Play
"ein man mit muote"
5. Conclusions
Bibliography
Index
