Speaker: Lisa Jennings, Department of English, University of Houston-Downtown

Abstract: »Much of the canonical value of Spenser’s Faerie Queene hinges on the poem’s depiction of sexual violence. Although Spenser’s epic is not visual art per se, The Faerie Queene’s episodes of rape, function in ways that are very similar to the iconography of rape depicted in much of Renaissance art. The Faerie Queene arrives at this artistic rapprochement by establishing sexual violence as necessary for art. Throughout The Faerie Queene, many of the episodes of sexual violence are linked inextricably to art. For instance, in Busyrane’s lair where he sexually assaults Amoret and Britomart, he uses writing or his art to effect their impalement: “And her before the vile Enchaunter sate, / Figuring straunge characters of his art,” (3.2.12.1-2). And in Acrasia’s bowre where she sexually molests men and boys, she also utilizes Circean art to entrap her victims: “The faire Enchauntresse, . . . / Tryde all her arts, and all her sleights, thence out to wrest” (2.12.81.8-9). Aside from critics such as Frye and Eggert, Spenser’s depiction of rape has gone mostly unchallenged. This critical myopia is due to the politics of canon formation and because Spenser transforms the paragone of language into the apotheotic category of art.« (Source: Online Program)

Wikipedia: History of Europe: History of England | Literature: English literature / Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene | Sex and the law: Rape / History of rape