Congress Paper Abstract

Men without Vice: Passing Men in Medieval Literature

JED CHANDLER , UNIVERSITY PF WALES NEWPORT, ADDRESS: 31, FREEHOLDLAND, PONTNEWYNYDD, TORFAEN. NP4 8LW.

This paper will look at two distinct categories of medieval female-bodied (or initially female-bodied) passing men in literature.

The first category is that of the passing male who assumes male identity for a specific purpose and returns to female dress and identity at the end of the episode. The second will include the tales of divine phalloplasty. In both cases, there is associated with the passing man an image of surpassing excellence, courage and honour: they are represented as having all the male virtues without any stereotypically male flaws.

Throughout these tales there is much discussion of discrepancy between physical appearance and subjective gender identity. Significantly, while the miraculous reassignment outcome is viewed as liberation, the outcomes of reverting to female identity are more ambiguous: some enter into a state of marital bliss, and yet for one,’ the rest was silence’.

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