1080 Reviews changed. Garza Carvajal argues that in early modern Spain the courts did not con? sider sodomy an expression of a 'psychological state', and so judges did not investigate the nature of the individual but simply sought to determine the material conditions ofthe act. By contrast, in the latter part ofthe seventeenth century sodomy was seen as an external sign of an internal moral disorder or an alteration of the economy of the passions. There were also differences between the construction of sodomy in the Peninsula and in the colony: Spain nurtured the notion of the 'effeminate' sodomite in relation to Mexico as a response to decaying political and economic domination. Such a disturbance of the 'natural order' (so much at variance with the concept of 'true manliness') was equated with other divergences from standards of Spanish be? haviour like cannibalism and human sacrifice, all associated with the diabolical and deployed to justify colonial rule. One gets a clear sense here of how Garza Carvajal sees the discourse on sodomy as a function within the imperial sphere rather than being simply a manifestation of gender or of local mores. He argues powerfully that proper understanding of 'manliness' and sodomy has to operate beyond any narrow gender-studies paradigm to grasp how these constructions were periodicallyexploited within colonial society. Indeed, this broad emphasis is a sign of how firma sense he has of his own historical enterprise. Garza Carvajal is methodologically alert, making no claim to a 'true understand? ing' in his representation of the period, but rather offeringwhat he calls 'a plausible explanation' (p. 2). So he sets out his analysis with explicit references to postcolo? nial and gender theories and to Foucault's notion of discourse, although he does not encumber his text with lengthy theoretical discussions. Moreover, he refuses to edit out of his account of the trials any sexual details that might seem shocking, arguing that such 'sanitizing' would be complicit with the violence done to the victims of prosecutions. While this explicit location of his work is a strength, it would have been beneficial to sustain the analytical focus more consistently. He devotes quite a lot of his book to summarizing arguments and the content of documents which can appear a little pedestrian. In addition, the book needed a stronger editorial hand, not only to cut down on the repetitive content of case histories (their inclusion in appendices would have been preferable) and to give a clearer shape to the presentation of the views of writers and moralists on Mexico (Chapter 4), but also to polish the writing. There are too many solecisms, inconsistent spellings, quirky pieces of punctuation, and annoying slips (for example, a man placed within 'site' of the rack (p. 123), or 'the entire gambit [sie] of early modern Spanish sexual impropriety' (p. 172)). Such slips at the production stage are a great shame because Garza Carvajal is careful in his attention to the primary material and innovative in his focus and argument. This book is a worthwhile undertaking which in places betrays its origin as a doctoral thesis. University of Nottingham Mark I. Millington Volkssprache zwischen Stift und Hof: Hofgeistliche in Literatur und Gesellschaft des 12. und 13. Jahrhunderts. By Timo Reuvekamp-Felber. (Kolner Germanistische Studien, NF 4) Cologneand Vienna, Weimar: Bohlau. 2003. viii+ 414 pp. ?44.90. ISBN 3-412-17602-8. It was Jean Frappier who soon after the war, in numerous publications, repeatedly drew attention to what he suspected was the important role played by the medieval cleric in the production of court literature. He nowhere found the opportunity to treat the problem systematically, and the same is true of Reto R. Bezzola's monumental Les Origines et la formation de la litteraturecourtoiseen Occident {500?1200), 5 vols (Paris: Champion, 1958-63), where clerics may be frequently mentioned, but scattered over MLRy 99.4, 2004 1081 time and place. Since then, however, an impressive range of scholars have concerned themselves more specifically with this theme, including Joachim Bumke (in Mdzene im Mittelalter (Munich: Beck, 1979) and also in his survey of court culture at large, Hofische Kultur (Munich: dtv, 1986)), Josef Fleckenstein (especially in his essay in the...