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Article: Diane Watt, Amoral Gower. Language, Sex, and Politics.(Book Review)
- Article from:
- Medium Aevum
- Article date:
- September 22, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Society for the Study of Mediaeval Languages and Literature. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Diane Watt, Amoral Gower. Language, Sex, and Politics, Medieval Cultures 38 (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2003). xviii + 206 pp. ISBN 0-8166-4028-9. $21.95.
Diane Watt's ground-breaking analysis of Confessio Amantis boldly engages Gower's work with feminist, queer, and psychoanalytic theory as well as historicist and ethical criticism. There are many notable arguments in this book, but one of its most paradigm-shifting insights is Watt's view of the seemingly conservative 'moral Gower' as a conflicted and divided poet. Rather than expressing a uniform vision of social or linguistic order, Gower's work abounds with multiple readings, ...