Arthurian Literature XXVIII. Blood, Sex, Malory: Essays on the "Morte Darthur"

Sex, blood, and gender have diverse associations in the Malorian tradition, yet their inter-relatedness and intersections are comparatively understudied. This present collection of essays is intended to go some way toward remedying the need for a sustained examination of blood ties, kinship, gender, and sexuality, and the prominence of these themes in Malory's work. They concentrate in particular upon the analyses of sexuality and sexual activity (and itslack or erasure) and the significance of blood (and blood-shedding) in the Morte Darthur, as well as the interconnections with gender (biological sex) and familial ("blood") relations in the Morte, its sources and its later reworkings. The result is a wide-ranging investigation into related but distinctive thematic preoccupations, including the national and kinship affiliations of Malorian knights, sibling relationships, deviant sexuality, and blood-spilling in martial and intimate contexts.

Contributors: Christina Francis, Megan G. Leitch, Helen Phillips, Carolyne Larrington, Lydia A. Fletcher, Kate McClune, Sally Mapstone, Caitlyn Schwartz, Maria SachikoCecire, Anna Caughey, Catherine LaFarge

Table of Contents

Preface
Reading Malory's Bloody Bedrooms - Christina Francis
[Dis]Figuring Transgressive Desire: Blood, Sex, and Stained Sheets in Malory's Morte Darthur - Megan G. Leitch
Bewmaynes: The Threat from the Kitchen - Helen Phillips
Sibling Relations in Malory's Morte Darthur - Carolyne Larrington
'Traytoures' and 'Treson': the Language of Treason in the Works of Sir Thomas Malory - Lydia A. Fletcher
'The Vengeaunce of My Brethirne': Blood Ties in Malory's Morte Darthur - Kate McClune
Malory and the Scots - Sally Mapstone
Blood, Faith and Saracens in 'The Book of Sir Tristram' - Caitlyn Schwartz
Barriers Unbroken: Sir Palomydes the Saracen in 'The Book of Sir Tristram' - Maria Sachiko Cecire
Virginity, Sexuality, Repression and Return in the 'Tale of the Sankgreal' - Anna Caughey
Launcelot in Compromising Positions: Fabliau in Malory's 'Tale of Sir Launcelot du Lake' - Catherine La LaFarge