Synopsis
Conservative thinkers of the early Middle Ages conceived of sensual gratification as a demonic snare contrived to debase the higher faculties of humanity, and they identified pagan writing as one of the primary conduits of decadence. Two aspects of the pagan legacy were treated with particular distrust: fiction, conceived as a devious contrivance that falsified GodOCOs order; and rhetorical opulence, viewed as a vain extravagance. Writing that offered these dangerous allurements came to be known as OC hermaphroditicOCO and, by the later Middle Ages, to be equated with homosexuality.aAt the margins of these developments, however, some authors began to validate fiction as a medium for truth and a source of legitimate enjoyment, while others began to explore and defend the pleasures of opulent rhetoric. Here David Rollo examines two such textsOCoAlain de LilleOCOs "De planctu Naturae" and Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de MeunOCOs "Roman de la Rose"OCoarguing that their authors, in acknowledging the liberating potential of their irregular written orientations, brought about a nuanced reappraisal of homosexuality. Rollo concludes with a consideration of the influence of the latter on ChaucerOCOs "PardonerOCOs Prologue and Tale."
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