Grief and Gender

The essays in this collection focus on representations from the Anglo-Saxon period through the 17th century of how men and women grieve, examining the topic in relation to both the literature and visual arts of England, France, Italy and Germany. The volume's inclusion of Anglo-Saxon, later medieval, and Renaissance texts illustrates how grief needs to be differentiated historically, particularly in relation to cultural factors that influence the gendering of this emotion. These factors include the emergence of nationhood as reflected in Anglo-Saxon poetry, the early modern Church and humanism, and the increasing secularization of mourning practices in the 17th century. The volume features original essays by leading authorities, who approach the timely subject of grief and gender from a wide range of theoretical perspectives, including psychoanalysis, feminism, masculinity studies, cultural materialism, post colonialism, and intertextuality.