Beards and Texts, Images of masculinity in medieval German literature

Author

Coxon; Sebastian

Year

2021

Publisher

UCL Press

Language

English

Pages

ISBN

978-1-78735-222-3

Link

Last Update

30-May-2026

Keywords

Language & Literature ; European Studies ; History

Description

Most fundamentally, this book is concerned with the role played by references to beards in medieval German literature, and with the different forms and functions such references take in a variety of text types and vernacular literary traditions as they evolved from the mid-twelfth to the early sixteenth centuries. Such an investigation derives its legitimacy from the peculiar (and pretty much universal) cultural-historical significance of the beard as a – if not the – pre-eminent ‘natural’ symbol of masculinity. From a literary-historical point of view it seems pertinent to enquire how this notion translated into literary practice. Two inextricably linked...