Flesh in flux: narrating metamorphosis in late medieval England【翻译】

ABSTRACT
My dissertation reevaluates medieval concepts of body and identity by analyzing
literary depictions of metamorphosis in romance. Focusing on examples such as the hagturned-
damsel in the Wife of Bath’s Tale, the lump-turned-boy in The King of Tars and
the demon-saint of Sir Gowther, I take as my starting point the fact that while those texts
pivot on instances of physical transformation, they refrain from representing such change.
This pattern of undescribed physical metamorphosis has broad implications for recent
work on evolving notions of change and identity beginning in the high Middle Ages.
While Caroline Walker Bynum has read the medieval outpouring of tales about
werewolves and hybrids as imaginative responses to social upheavals, I consider why
such medieval writings ironically focused on shape-shifters but avoided metamorphosis
itself. I argue that we can understand why Chaucer and other writers resisted imagining
bodies in the process of transforming by examining the history of ideas regarding
metamorphosis in the medieval west. While the foremost classical writer on
transformation, Ovid, reveled in depictions of metamorphosis, by the late Middle Ages a
new religious discourse on change enjoyed prominence, the doctrine of
transubstantiation. In its effort to separate substance and accidents, Eucharistic theory
strove to detach identity from physical change and exhibited a certain level of repugnance
over images of physical transformation. I argue that medieval secular writings address
that anxiety over bread-turned-God in moments such as the close of the Wife of Bath’s
Tale. In a scene that recalls the place of veiling in Eucharistic ritual, the hag uses the bed
curtain first to cloak then reveal her newly young and beautiful physique. Ultimately, the
corpus of medieval literature on change—a body of work that engages both Ovidian and
2
Eucharistic writings—suggests that identity intertwines with physical metamorphosis in a
productive, if problematically unstable, manner.
Abstract Approved: ____________________________________
Thesis Supervisor
____________________________________
Title and Department
____________________________________
Date
FLESH IN FLUX: NARRATING METAMORPHOSIS IN LATE MEDIEVAL
ENGLAND
by
Stephanie Latitia Norris
A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the Doctor of
Philosophy degree in English
in the Graduate College of
The University of Iowa
July 2012
Thesis Supervisor: Associate Professor Kathy Lavezzo
Copyright by
STEPHANIE LATITIA NORRIS
2012
All Rights Reserved
Graduate College
The University of Iowa
Iowa City, Iowa
CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL
_______________________
PH.D. THESIS
_______________
This is to certify that the Ph.D. thesis of
Stephanie Latitia Norris
has been approved by the Examining Committee
for the thesis requirement for the Doctor of Philosophy
degree in English at the July 2012 graduation.
Thesis Committee: ___________________________________
Kathy Lavezzo, Thesis Supervisor
___________________________________
Jon Wilcox
___________________________________
Claire Sponsler
___________________________________
Katherine Tachau
___________________________________
Blaine Greteman
ii
For My Children, In joyful expectation of their futures
Micah Keith Norris and Mylah Latitia Norris
And for my Grandparents, In honor of their legacy
Jessie Lee Rodgers
(1907-1979)
Willie Ruth Rodgers
(1900-1973)
Wilson Johnson Geter
(1921-2003)
Emma Lois Geter
(1925-2002)
iii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am eternally grateful to my advisors, colleagues, family and friends for their
unwavering support during the process of completing this project. My thesis supervisor,
Kathy Lavezzo, nurtured my ideas and challenged me to produce my best work while
concomitantly offering compassion and reassurance during the times I needed it most. I
am also thankful to my committee members whose enthusiasm about my project and
helpful suggestions for revision provided focus and guidance as I pursue the next phase
of my career. My husband, Ryan Norris, children, Micah and Mylah, and my parents,
Clarence and Wilma Rodgers, are the very reason for my success and my motivation to
continue this journey. My warmest gratitude is extended to my friend and colleague, Erin
Mann, who encouraged me when times were most difficult. Lastly, but certainly not least,
I give honor to God, who is literally the air I breathe.
iv
ABSTRACT
My dissertation reevaluates medieval concepts of body and identity by analyzing
literary depictions of metamorphosis in romance. Focusing on examples such as the hagturned-
damsel in the Wife of Bath’s Tale, the lump-turned-boy in The King of Tars and
the demon-saint of Sir Gowther, I take as my starting point the fact that while those texts
pivot on instances of physical transformation, they refrain from representing such change.
This pattern of undescribed physical metamorphosis has broad implications for recent
work on evolving notions of change and identity beginning in the high Middle Ages.
While Caroline Walker Bynum has read the medieval outpouring of tales about
werewolves and hybrids as imaginative responses to social upheavals, I consider why
such medieval writings ironically focused on shape-shifters but avoided metamorphosis
itself. I argue that we can understand why Chaucer and other writers resisted imagining
bodies in the process of transforming by examining the history of ideas regarding
metamorphosis in the medieval west. While the foremost classical writer on
transformation, Ovid, reveled in depictions of metamorphosis, by the late Middle Ages a
new religious discourse on change enjoyed prominence, the doctrine of
transubstantiation. In its effort to separate substance and accidents, Eucharistic theory
strove to detach identity from physical change and exhibited a certain level of repugnance
over images of physical transformation. I argue that medieval secular writings address
that anxiety over bread-turned-God in moments such as the close of the Wife of Bath’s
Tale. In a scene that recalls the place of veiling in Eucharistic ritual, the hag uses the bed
curtain first to cloak then reveal her newly young and beautiful physique. Ultimately, the
v
corpus of medieval literature on change—a body of work that engages both Ovidian and
Eucharistic writings—suggests that identity intertwines with physical metamorphosis in a
productive, if problematically unstable, manner.
vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 1
CHAPTER I. SECULAR AND RELIGIOUS APPROACHES TO
TRANSFORMATION IN THE LATE MIDDLE AGES 13
The Nature of Eucharistic Theology: Decoding the Riddle of
Transubstantiation in the Late Middle Ages 35
Ovid and Transubstantiation: A Fresh Approach 51
CHAPTER II. “CAST UP THE CURTEYN, LOK HOU THAT IT IS”: VEILED
METAMORPHOSIS AND CHAUCER’S WIFE OF BATH 54
Clothing the Wife of Bath 67
The Curtain and the Veil 76
Transubstantiation 85
Interpretation 88
Concluding Statements 90
CHAPTER III. THE ONLY STABILITY IS FLUX: METAMORPHOSIS AND
SIR GOWTHER 91
The Specter of the Fiend 102
Penitential Bodies: Canine Gowther 112
Gowther the Saracen 119
Textual Variations 128
Closing Statements 131
CHAPTER IV. MORSELS OF FLESH AND BREAD: RACE, IDENTITY AND
THE EUCHARIST IN KING OF TARS 135
Seeing Christ’s Body: Lollards and Transubstantiation 147
Transforming the Saracen Body: Baptizing Abject Bodies 153
Unstable Identities: The Unexpected Power of Metamorphosis 165
Reclaiming Authority 175
EPILOGUE: FACING THE ANIMAL, LOOKING AT SELF 181
WORKS CITED 190

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