Jeffrey
J. Cohen.
Medieval Identity Machines.
Minnesota U.P., 2003.
Medieval
Cultures Series, volume 35.
352pp.
Publisher's
recommended price
Paperback ISBN
0816640033, $22.95
Hardback ISBN 0816640025, $63.95
In
Medieval
Identity
Machines, Jeffrey J. Cohen examines the messiness, permeability,
and
perversity of medieval bodies, arguing that human identity always
exceeds
the limits of the flesh. Combining critical theory with a rigorous
reading
of medieval texts, Cohen asks if the category "human" isn't too small
to
contain the multiplicity of identities. As such, this book is the first
to argue for a "posthuman" Middle Ages and to make extensive use of the
philosophical writings of Gilles Deleuze to rethink the medieval.
Among
the topics
that Cohen covers are the passionate bond between men and horses in
chivalric
training; the interrelation of demons, celibacy, and colonialism in an
Anglo-Saxon saint's life; Lancelot's masochism as envisioned by
Chrétien
de Troyes; the voice of thunder echoing from Margery Kempe; and the
fantasies
that sustained some dominant conceptions of race.
This
tour of identity
- in all its fragility and diffusion - illustrates the centrality of
the
Middle Ages to theory as it enhances our understanding of self,
embodiment,
and temporality in the medieval world. |
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