Ogling Ladies: Scopophilia in Medieval German Literature

Notes

Notes Introduction 1. Freud, in his short essay “Medusa’s Head,” uses the Medusa myth to explain the castrating power of the malevolent female gaze. The terror of Medusa is the fear of castration linked to the sight of an uncanny object, such as the female sexual organ. Freud, Sexuality and the Psychology of Love, 212–13. 2. For a comprehensive discussion of this topic see Wade, A Natural History of Vision. 3. The intense gaze as an indicator of social relationships is applicable to all mammals . Staring is dominant and aggressive behavior, while looking down and avoiding the probing look of an opponent is understood as a sign of weakness and submission. 4. For related idioms see Schemann, Deutsche Idiomatik. 5. For further study of the evil-eye belief see Dundes, The Evil Eye: A Folklore Casebook . 6. A detailed anthropological examination of the almost universal evil-eye belief and the various preventative and curative measures taken is found in Maloney’s The Evil Eye. 7. Burns discusses this elimination of women from the literary equation inBodytalk, 13. 8. See Winnicott’s “Mirror-Role of Mother and Family in Child Development” in Playing and Reality, 111–18. Chapter 1. “A lady should never look directly at a male visitor”: Thomasin von Zerclaere 1. The observations apply only to girls of noble descent. There are no records regarding the education of female peasants, due to the illiteracy of the peasant class and the clerical apathy toward them. 2. See Ehrismann 114–18 for a useful overview of the huote theme. Chapter 2. “Wild glances”: Winsbeckin and Der Renner 1. Rasmussen lists dating information, scholarly reception, extant manuscripts, and other codicological information regarding this text in Mothers and Daughters. 154 Notes 2. The maerkere and the watchdog theme is a trope in Minnesang. The secret lovers are always enraged against them. The female narrator of one of Meinloh von Sevelingen ’s songs curses the watchdogs, blaming them for the loss of her good reputation. “Sô wê den merkaeren! die habent mîn übele gedâht . . .” Des Minnesangs Frühling. 3. Detailed scholarly resources regarding this text can be found in Goheen’s Mensch und Moral im Mittelalter. 4. Hugo shares Der Renner’s distaste of courtly pursuits; an English translation of the text Von des todes gehugde is found in the appendix of this volume. The title of the translation is “Remember Death.” 5. For further study of this trope of medieval literature see Sinclair’s The Deceived Husband. Chapter 3. “The woman behind the wall”: Heinrich von Melk and Der Stricker 1. The edition I use both for my discussion and the translation of the text, found in the appendix of this volume, is edited by Thomas Bein and Trude Ehlert, Heinrich von Melk: Von des todes gehugde. 2. See Ruh et al., Die deutsche Literature des Mittelalters, vol. 5, col. 419. 3. See Schilling, Der Stricker: Der Pfaffe Amis. 4. My English translation is based on Ehrismann’s Middle High German edition of Der Stricker’s Erzählungen, Fabeln, Reden. 5. The religious aspects of immurement in the story are discussed in Wailes, “Immurement and Religious Experience.” 6. For a detailed study of the tripartite socioeconomic structure, consult Duby’s The Three Orders: Feudal Society Imagined. Chapter 4. “He was as handsome as he could be!”: Male Beauty and the Ogling Lady in the Eneasroman 1. In one of her earliest incarnations, Dido is a true classical heroine. After being widowed, she remains faithful to her murdered husband, committing suicide to avoid being taken by another man. Dido’s noble character, however, is modified by the Roman historian Naevius, who connects her to the legend of Eneas and the foundation of Rome. His text recounts that Dido has a love affair with Eneas and kills herself after he abandons her. The better-known Dido character by Virgil is based on Naevius’s version. For a concise account of the mythology surrounding Dido, see Grant’s Who’s Who in Classical Mythology. For a feminist reading of the character, see Desmond’s Reading Dido. 2. A variation of this tale is found in the Norse epic The Saga of the Volsungs. 3. “Innan stokks” is the woman’s domain of housework and child care and assumed to be inferior to the outside world of politics and power. Notes 155 4. Curtius, in his European Literature and the Latin...