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Between Women: Desire and its Object in Malory's 'Alexander the Orphan'
- Parergon
- Australian and New Zealand Association of Medieval and Early Modern Studies (Inc.)
- Volume 24, Number 1, 2007
- pp. 137-154
- 10.1353/pgn.2007.0044
- Article
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Malory's tale 'Alysaundir the Orphan' is usually considered a failure because its titular character never avenges the death of his father; instead, he falls in love. Readings of the tale, however, and of Malory's Morte Darthur in general, are often influenced by the view of Malory as a misogynistic writer, rendering plots that do not live up to 'masculinist' knightly expectations unintelligible. Reading for gynosocial rather than patriarchal definitions of success and power in this tale can help us to rethink both the gendering of desire and the power structure of courtship in medieval romance.