Author: Albrecht Classen, German Studies Department, University of Arizona - Academia.edu

Abstract: »The topic of rape or sexual violence is, unfortunately, ubiquitous in world literature. In our day and age, this crime is seriously identified as such and properly persecuted, at least in the Western world. Contrary to common assumptions, this was already the case in the pre-modern world, as much as patriarchy ruled and sexual transgressions were often addressed by poets. The issue dealt with here, however, pertains to the question of how cases of rape were discussed and eva-luated in the late Middle Ages. As significant examples in the anonymous and highly popular Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles (late fifteenth century) indicate, poets commonly dealt with sexual transgression often leading to the woman's violation (occasionally also the man's). The critical reading of specific cases contained in this literary collection indicates that rape was recognized as such and clearly con-demned as a terrible crime. However, various poets still did not hesitate to the-matize sexual harassment and also rape as topics which allowed them to 'enter-tain' their audiences, especially when the man's attempts were defied by the fe-male victim by means of wit, rhetorical skill, and fast thinking. Male poets such as Johannes Pauli also formulated explicit condemnation of rape.« (Source: Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Science)

Contents:

	Abstract (p. 1460)
	1. Introduction (p. 1460)
	2. Literary Analysis (p. 1463)
	3. Marguerite de Navarre's Heptaméron (p. 1469)
	4. Johannes Pauli (p. 1470)
	5. Conclusion (p. 1470)
	References (p. 1471)

Wikipedia: History of Europe: History of France / France in the late Middle Ages, France in the early modern period | History of Europe: History of Germany / Germany in the early modern period | Literature: French literature / Marguerite de Navarre | Literature: German literature / Johannes Pauli | Literature: Rape in ficion / Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles, Heptaméron | Sex and the law: Rape / History of rape