Sunday, March 22, 2009

New Podcast: My Published Article

Listen here to the new podcast of the new series On Love: De Amore.

This article is a Gender Theory-informed analysis of a thirteenth-century German text entitled der borte (The Belt). Der borte (1270-1290) was written by the little known, Dietrich von der Glezze and it deals with familial transgressions, perversions of knightly virtues, as well as same-sex physical encounters. This article has been accepted for publication by the journal Neophilologus and will be available online as well as on paper very soon. Here is an audio version of it I recorded a few days ago.

This thirteenth century text, a Middle High German-English translation of which I also intend to publish, is fantastically gripping.

Here is a summary of the plot. In a little nutshell.

A married lady is gazed upon by a stranger knight. He wants her. He has a lot of great things of value. She wants the things. She negotiates with him. She allows him one act of physicality in exchange for four great things of value. They get caught. The lady's husband leaves in shame. She waits for him for two years. He does not return. She goes in search of him disguised as a man.
Her husband sees him/her and his/her things and decides he wants to have some of his/her stuff. The wife says she will only let him have the stuff, provided the two 'knights' lie together as a married couple. The husband agrees to it. It's after all only ONE TIME. And it will be done in secret.

As the husband is about to acquiesce, the wife reveals her true identity and scolds her husband for agreeing to a heretical act of sodomy.

The husband apologizes and they return to their court together.

Courtesy of the little known author Dietrich von der Glezze circa 1270-1290.

A note on music: The music for this podcast comes from my friend's Matt's band Swiss Army Mouth. They're an instrumental rock band from Ohio.






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10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Heady stuff but you've managed to instruct, nonetheless.
It's amazing to me that this kind of stuff comes from the Middle Ages.
I'd like to read more.....
Would you let the readers know when it's out in print. I'd like to read it, too.
I can't get over the fact that is from 1270-1290. WOW!!!

Anonymous said...

Heady stuff but you've managed to instruct, nonetheless.
It's amazing to me that this kind of stuff comes from the Middle Ages.
I'd like to read more.....
Would you let the readers know when it's out in print. I'd like to read it, too.
I can't get over the fact that is from 1270-1290. WOW!!!

Anonymous said...

Wild stuff.
I appreciate you making your published work available via podcast. Have to give it one more try to get it, though. ;)

Anonymous said...

Also, could you post the biblio info the Middle High German version? I'd like to look at it when I hear this again....
Thanks, Bri.

Anonymous said...

I can't get over how 'modern' this stuff sounds..... WOW!!

Anonymous said...

This is amazing. I googled the title and I see that you've done a bunch of work on this.
I will have to listen to it one more time. I am also amazed by the level of narrative complexity here. Gripping.

Anonymous said...

I like that music, Bri.
It's pretty cool that you feature musicians you know in your own creative process. Right on!
How's the writing going?
West-bound?
When back?
Oh, about the podcast. I had to listen to it twice. It's incredible to me that stuff like this was in the 'vernacular' back then.
WOWSAH!!

Anonymous said...

This was a bit tough, a lot of literary interpretation, but mind-opening.
I'd also like to read the article, too. Would you post it when available in print?

Anonymous said...

It's interesting that so much gendered text was featured in literature during the middle ages.

Unknown said...

This opened my eyes to the middle ages. I would like to read it in print, too. Please.