Bridge Essay: Gender and Representation: New Approaches to Medieval Literature

AbstractStudy of the relationship of gender and representation in medieval literature has grown significantly since the 1970s. While current theories, which highlight the socially constructed and unstable nature of gender, subjectivity, and representation, might seem to have few links with medieval cultures, scholars are showing that these approaches are productive tools for analyzing medieval texts. Recent studies have challenged the assumption that medieval texts define gender primarily in binary terms, shown how medieval texts highlight the role of performance in gender and representation, and offered comparative readings that bring attention to the importance of medieval literature in exploring gender and representation in world literature. As a result, we understand that many medieval texts participate in interrogations of gender and representation similar to those in later literatures.