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The Ambiguous Laughter of Saint Laurence
- Journal of Early Christian Studies
- Johns Hopkins University Press
- Volume 10, Number 2, Summer 2002
- pp. 175-202
- 10.1353/earl.2002.0018
- Article
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This essay uses contemporary theories of masculinity to read Prudentius' narrative of the martyrdom of St. Laurence (Peristephanon 2). We find that, far from being the site of a conventional glorification of martyrdom and Rome, this narrative contains many subversive elements which derive from the presentation of Laurence as ambiguously-gendered. The subversion is epitomized in the famous jest of Laurence as he lies roasting on the gridiron; but we see here how Prudentius' poem, and other lesser accounts of the same martyrdom, place this jest in a wider context of shifting masculinities, social critique, and antihegemonic hilarity.