Clothes Make the Man: Female Cross-Dressing in Medieval Europe by Valerie Hotchkiss (review)

Abstract

REVIEWS115 earthly, materialistic and even pethaps petty and mundane than previously thought. It's an interesting perspective, and the decidedly new historicist anti-romantic view ofthe poet may be the direction ofthe future. Finally, as Gawain learns, no one is perfect enough to escape without at least a slight nick on the neck. The one slight 'fault' here is that these essays provide such a consensus, especially in regard to reading SGGK, that they give uniformly short shrift to some currents that a companion to these poems ought to acknowledge. For example, several ofthe essays are completely dismissive of'anthropological readings' but are so cavalier that they threaten to throw dieperle out with the clot. Since most contributors allude to such readings as discredited, it would be good to explain what such readings were, why they were attractive, what they added, and what fossils remain. The same could, of course, be said ofthe tendency of most ofthe Gawain essays to dismiss much ofcontemporary Gawain criticism as too 'serious-minded' without answering some ofthe same questions. Readers new to the poem would be well served by having a clearer sense of what is being rejected, but the contributors here, while often dismissing the body of such readings, are often too courteous to name names. Still, this bur is an easy one to abide, requiring hardly any patience at all. In the end, this volume's editors have produced a boon companion, an essential guide, for those setting out to explore to world of this fascinating poet. JULIAN WASSERMAN Loyola University, New Orleans valerie hotchkiss, Clothes Make the Man.Female Cross-Dressing in MedievalEurope. New York: Garland Press, 1996. The New Middle Ages, vol. 1. Pp. 200. isbn: 0-81532369 -7. $30. Valerie Hotchkiss very effectively synthesizes a large body of diverse medieval texts about female cross-dressing----historical, literary, theological and juridical—to analyze constructions ofgender identity in the Middle Ages. In a nutshell, Hotchkiss argues that 'the medieval fascination with the transvestite' demonstrates a collective desire of patriarchal society for images of female heroism. That is the good news. The bad news is that while female transvestitism satisfied that desire, at the same time it undetscoted the hegemony ofpatriarchal power relations. Hotchkiss claims that while female cross-dressing represented a positive cultural yearning for empowered women, it ultimately entrenched a dualistic hierarchy of male over female. Hotchkiss argues her case via a broad scope of medieval texts including a chapter on each of the following: virgin transvestite holy women, the transvestite 'monk' Hildegund ofSchonau (tn88), the French liberator Joan ofArc ("("1431), the popular legend ofthe female pope, the disguised wife' topos in secular litetature, and sexuality in late romance literature. The moral of this medieval story is that while virtuous women for the sake of devotion and righteousness may disguise themselves as men, they may not hold offices of power traditionally reserved for men. Hotchkiss convincingly demonstrates that female cross-dressing was celebrated in the Middle ii6arthuriana Ages insofar as it sealed a woman's Christian humility and self-effacement, in short, her subordination. Hotchkiss's insightful chapter on the ttansvestite 'monk' Hildegund von Schonau explores what the author identifies as the 'double standard' ofChristian transvestitism. Hildegund was discovered by her fellow monks to be a woman only at her death when her body was prepared for burial. For this, Hildegund was made a saint. Hotchkiss's valid point is that if a living woman were discovered to have disguised her sex and wear monk's clothing, she would have been denounced. In other words, a female ttansvestite monk was much better off dead. Hotchkiss's chapter on the legendary female pope considers the most vital instance among medieval traditions in which female cross-dressing was considered sinful. As Hotchkiss aptly points out, it was not so much that the mythic female pope disguised herself as a man but that she used her disguise to gain political power over men. In contrast, the female monks ofhagiographie literature were less threatening since they led quiet and unobtrusive lives ofobedience within the confines of a monastery. Hotchkiss's chapter on Joan ofArc argues the key insight that the Maid ofOrleans, although she...