Fantasies ol the Other's Body in Middle English Oriental Romance

STUDIES IN ENGLlSH MEDIEVAl lANGUAGE AND LlTERATURE

Edited by Jacek Fisiak

Advisory Board:

John Anderson (Methoni, Greece), Ulrich Busse (Halle), Olga Fischer (Amsterdam), Marcin Krygier (Poznań),

Roger Lass (Cape Town), Peter Lucas (Cambridge), Donka Minkova (Los Angeles), Akio Oizumi (Kyoto),

Katherine O'Brien O'Keeffe (UC Berkeley, USA), MaNi Rissanen (Helsinki), Hans Sauer (Munich),

Liliano Sikorska (Poznań), Jeremy Smith (Glasgow), Jerzy We/na (Warsaw)

Vol.40

'@I PETER LANG ~ EDITION

Anna Czarnowus

Fantasies of the O ther's Body in Midd/e Eng/ish

O rienta/ Romance

PETER LANG E DITION

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Czarnowus, Anna. Fanlasies ol Ihe Olher's Body in Middle English Orienlal Romance 1 Anna Czarnowus.

pages cm. - (Sludies in English Medieval Language and Lilera-lure ; 40)

Includes bibliographical relerences. ISBN 978-3-631-64446-1 1. Romances, English-Hislory and crilicism. 2. English lileralure­

Middle English, 11 00-1500-Hislory and crilicism. 3. English philol­ogy-Middle English, 1100-1500. 4. Other (Philosophy) in lileralure. 5. Orienlalism in lileralure. I. Title. PR321.C932013 821'.109-dc23

ISSN 1436-7521 ISBN 978-3-631-64446-1 (Prinl)

E-ISBN 978-3-653-03119-5 (E-Book) DOI 10.3726/978-3-653-03119-5

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Contents

Introdlletion .... . , ........... . , .. , ......... .............. , .... ... ............................. ..... , ....... , ... .. ...... 9

Chapter One Ethnie differenee and body marvellolls:

the case of Challeer's Sql/ire 's ta/e and Sir Femll1bras ........ .......... .............. ...... . 37

Chapter Two

Commllnity , Richard /e eoer de Lyon, and chivalric anthropophagy ................ 63

Chapter Three

Bodies enslaved in AlIcassin et Nico/ete and F/oris and B/anche.flollr .............. 95

Chapter Four

Blaek giantesses as eommllnal tlesh in the Firlllllbras romanees ..................... 123

Chapter Five

Genealogy and desire in King Horn ........ ..... ..................................................... 153

Chapter Six

Transformation and regeneration in Kyng A/isallnder

and The wars ojA/exander .............................................. ..... ............................ 177

Conclllsion ........ ......... ..... ............. , .. .... . , ......... , .... , ..... ..... ... .... ........ ...... ...... , ...... . 207

References ............. , ....... .......... , .... . , .......... .. , .... ..... , ..... ... .... ..... ... ... , ... .... , .... ........ 21 I

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Vol. 20

5tudies In Engllsh Medleval Language and Llterature

• Edited by Jacek Fisiak

Dieler Kaslovsky / Arthur Meltinger (eds.): Language Contacl in the Hislory ol English. 2nd,

revised edilion . 2003.

Sludies in English Historical Linguislics and Philology. A Feslschrifl lor Akio Oizumi. Ediled by Jacek Fisiak. 2002.

Liliana Sikorska: In a Manner of MoralI Playe: Social Ideologies in English Moralilies and Interludes (1350-1517). 2002.

Peter J. Lucas / Angela M. Lucas (eds.): Middle English Irom Tongue to Texl. Selecled Papers Irom Ihe Third Inlernational Conlerence on Middle English: Language and Text, held at Dublin, Ireland, 1-4 July 1999. 2002 .

Chaucer and Ihe Challenges ol Medievalism. Sludies in Honor ol H. A. Kelly. Ediled by Donka Minkova and Theresa Tinkle. 2003.

Hanna Rulkowska: Graphemics and Morphosyntax in Ihe Gely Letters (1472-88).2003.

The Ancrene Wisse. A Four-Manuscript Parallei Texl. Prelace and Parts 1-4. Ediled by Tadao Kubouchi and Keiko Ikegami with John Scahill, Shoko Ono, Harumi Tanabe, Yoshi­ko Ola, Ayako Kobayashi and Koichi Nakamura. 2003.

Joanna Bugaj: Middle Scots Inllectional Syslem in Ihe Soulh-wesl ol Scotland . 2004.

Ralal Boryslawski: The Old English Riddles and the Riddlic Elements ol Old English Poetry. 2004.

Nikolaus Rilt / Herbert Schendl (eds.): Relhinking Middle English. Linguislic and Lilerary Approaches. 2005.

The Ancrene Wisse. A Four-Manuscripl Parallei Texl. Parts 5-8 wilh Wordlisls. Ediled by Tadao Kubouchi and Keiko Ikegami wilh John Scahill, Shoko Ono, Harumi Tanabe, Yoshi­ko Ola, Ayako Kobayashi, Koichi Nakamura. 2005.

Texl and Language in Medieval English Prose. A Festschrilt lor Tadao Kubouchi. Ediled by Akio Oizumi, Jacek Fisiak and John Scahill. 2005.

Michiko Ogura (ed.): Textual and Conlextual Sludies in Medieval English. Towards the Reunion ol Linguislics and Philology. 2006.

Keiko Hamaguchi: Non-European Women in Chaucer. A Poslcolonial Sludy. 2006.

Ursula Schaeler (ed.): The Beginnings ol Slandardizalion. Language and Culture in Four­leenlh-Cenlury England. 2006.

Nikolaus Rilt / Herbert Schendl / Chrisliane Dallon-Puller / Dieter Kastovsky (eds): Medieval English and ils Heritage. StrucIu re, Meaning and Mechanisms ol Change. 2006.

Malylda Wlodarczyk: Pragmatic Aspecls ol Reported Speech. The Case ol Early Modern English Courtroom Discourse. 2007.

Hans Sauer / Renale Bauer (eds.): Beowulfand Beyond. 2007 .

Gabriella Mazzon (ed.): Studies in Middle English Forms and Meanings. 2007.

Alexander Bergs / Janne Skaffari (eds.): The Language ol Ihe Peterborough Chronicie. 2007.

Vol. 21 Liliana Sikorska (ed.). With the assistance ol Joanna Maciulewicz: Medievalisms. The Poelics ol Literary Re-Reading. 2008.

Vol. 22 Masachiyo Amano / Michiko Ogura / Masayuki Ohkado (eds.) : Hislorical Englishes in Vari -elies ol Texls and Conlexts. The Global COE Program, International Conlerence 2007. 2008.

Vol. 23 Ewa Ciszek: Word Derivalion in Early Middle English. 2008.

Vol. 24 Andrzej M. lęcki : Grammalicalisalion Palhs ol Have in English. 2010.

Vol. 25 Osamu Imahayashi / Yoshiyuki Nakao / Michiko Ogura (eds.): Aspecls ol the Hislory ol English Language and Lileralure. Selecled Papers Read at SHELL 2009, Hiroshima. 2010.

Vol. 26 Magdalena Balor: Obsolele Scandinavian Loanwords in English. 2010.

Vol. 27 Anna Cichosz: The Inlluence ol Text Type on Word Order ol Old Germanic Languages. A Corpus-Based Conlrastive Sludy ol Old English and Old High German. 2010.

Vol. 28 Jacek Fisiak / Magdalena Bator (eds.): Foreign Inlluences on Medieval English. 2011.

Vol. 29 Wladyslaw Witalisz: The Trojan Mirror. Middle English Narralives ol Troy as Books ol Princely Advice. 2011.

Vol. 30 Luis Iglesias-Rabade: Semanlic Erosion ol Middle English Prepositions. 2011.

Vol. 31 Barbara Kowalik: Belwixl engelaunde and englene lon de. Dialogic Poetics in Early English Religious Lyric. 2010.

Vol. 32 The Kalherine Group. A Three-Manuscript Parallei Texl. Seinle Katerine, Seinle Marherele, Seinle luliene, and Hali Meićlhad, wilh Wordlisls. Ediled by Shoko Ono and John Scahill wilh Keiko Ikegami, Tadao Kubouchi , Harumi Tanabe, Koichi Nakamura, Saloko Shimazaki and Koichi Kano. 2011.

Vol. 33 Jacob Thaisen / Hanna Rulkowska (eds.): Scribes, Printers, and the Accidenlals ol their Texls. 2011.

Vol. 34 Isabel Moskowich: Language Conlacl and Vocabulary Enrichmenl. Scandinavian Elemenls in Middle English . 2012.

Vol. 35 Joanna Esquibel / Anna Wojlyś (eds.): Exploralions in the English Language: Middle Ages and Beyond . Feslschrifl lor Prolessor Jerzy Welna on the Occasion ol his 70 th Birthday. 2012.

Vol. 36 Yoshiyuki Nakao: The Structure ol Chauce(s Ambiguily. 2013.

Vol. 37 Begona Crespo: Change in Lile, Change in Language. A Semantic Approach lo the History ol English . 2013.

Vol. 38 Richard Dance / Laura Wright (eds.): The Use and Developmenl ol Middle English. Proceedings ol Ihe Sixlh International Conlerence on Middle English, Cambridge 2008. 2012.

Vol. 39 Michiko Ogura: Words and Expressions ol Emolion in Medieval English. 2013.

Vol. 40 Anna Czarnowus: Fanlasies ol the Othe(s Body in Middle English Orienlal Romance. 2013.

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This study attempts to analyze diverse aspects of the corporeality of cultural others in Middle English oriental romances. The theoretical introduction situates the romances in the context of anthropology ot the body. The analysis includes a psychoanalytical perspective on an oriental female body in Chaucer's Squire's ta/e and Sir Ferumbras, anthropophagy in Richard /e Goer de Lyon, slavery and hybridity in F/oris and B/anchef/our, Roberto Esposito's theory of immunization and the question of female grotesque in the English Charlemagne romances, King Horn and the othering ot the same, and the influence of monstrous races on a Westerner in the Middle English Alexander romances. The overall perspective is not entirely a negative one. The Wonders of the East tradition counterbalances the negative vision to som e extent, since it predates Romantic infatuation with the Orient.

Anna Czarnowus is a lecturer in English literature at the University ot Silesia, Katowice (Poland). She teaches in the applied languages French and English program me at the Institute of Romanie Languages and Translation Studies. She has published on Chaucer and Middle English literature. Her doctoral thesis /nscription on the body: monstrous chi/dren in Midd/e English /iterature was published in 2009.

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