Author of essays on gender and sexuality in Old and Middle English literature, Dana M. Oswald is Assistant Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside. Dana grew up in Cheyenne, Wyoming and graduated from Cottey College and the University of Northern Colorado. She received her Ph.D. from The Ohio State University in 2005 and began her career as a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside. As a scholar and a teacher, Dana is interested in the ways bodies and the perception of bodies enact and construct identity. In addition to her book, Monsters, Gender and Sexuality in Medieval English Literature, she has published essays on monsters, gender and sexuality, and women’s rhetorics.
Monsters abound in Old and Middle English literature, from Grendel and his mother in Beowulf to t... more Monsters abound in Old and Middle English literature, from Grendel and his mother in Beowulf to those found in medieval romances such as Sir Gowther. Through a close examination of the way in which their bodies are sexed and gendered, and drawing from postmodern theories of gender, identity, and subjectivity, this book interrogates medieval notions of the body and the boundaries of human identity.
Case studies of Wonders of the East, Beowulf, Mandeville's Travels, the Alliterative Morte Arthure, and Sir Gowther reveal a shift in attitudes toward the gendered and sexed body, and thus toward identity, between the two periods: while Old English authors and artists respond to the threat of the gendered, monstrous form by erasing it, Middle English writers allow transgressive and monstrous bodies to transform and therefore integrate into society. This metamorphosis enables redemption for some monsters, while other monstrous bodies become dangerously flexible and invisible, threatening the communities they infiltrate. These changing cultural reactions to monstrous bodies demonstrate the precarious relationship between body and identity in medieval literature.
Rhetorical democracy: discursive practices of civic …, Jan 1, 2003
Page 281. 35 Learning to Be Civil: Citizen Judith and Old English Culture Dana M. Oswald Ohio Sta... more Page 281. 35 Learning to Be Civil: Citizen Judith and Old English Culture Dana M. Oswald Ohio State University Women in Old English literature are notoriously silent. In Beowulf, the only woman who speaks is Queen Wealhtheow ...
This article examines Beowulf's speeches regarding his fight with Grendel&#x... more This article examines Beowulf's speeches regarding his fight with Grendel's mother. In the speeches to both Hrothgar and Hygelac, Beowulf revises unwitnessed events in Grendel's mother's mere in order to cover up details of the fight that threaten to undermine his masculine and ...
Monsters abound in Old and Middle English literature, from Grendel and his mother in Beowulf to t... more Monsters abound in Old and Middle English literature, from Grendel and his mother in Beowulf to those found in medieval romances such as Sir Gowther. Through a close examination of the way in which their bodies are sexed and gendered, and drawing from postmodern theories of gender, identity, and subjectivity, this book interrogates medieval notions of the body and the boundaries of human identity.
Case studies of Wonders of the East, Beowulf, Mandeville's Travels, the Alliterative Morte Arthure, and Sir Gowther reveal a shift in attitudes toward the gendered and sexed body, and thus toward identity, between the two periods: while Old English authors and artists respond to the threat of the gendered, monstrous form by erasing it, Middle English writers allow transgressive and monstrous bodies to transform and therefore integrate into society. This metamorphosis enables redemption for some monsters, while other monstrous bodies become dangerously flexible and invisible, threatening the communities they infiltrate. These changing cultural reactions to monstrous bodies demonstrate the precarious relationship between body and identity in medieval literature.
Rhetorical democracy: discursive practices of civic …, Jan 1, 2003
Page 281. 35 Learning to Be Civil: Citizen Judith and Old English Culture Dana M. Oswald Ohio Sta... more Page 281. 35 Learning to Be Civil: Citizen Judith and Old English Culture Dana M. Oswald Ohio State University Women in Old English literature are notoriously silent. In Beowulf, the only woman who speaks is Queen Wealhtheow ...
This article examines Beowulf's speeches regarding his fight with Grendel&#x... more This article examines Beowulf's speeches regarding his fight with Grendel's mother. In the speeches to both Hrothgar and Hygelac, Beowulf revises unwitnessed events in Grendel's mother's mere in order to cover up details of the fight that threaten to undermine his masculine and ...
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Books by Dana Oswald
Case studies of Wonders of the East, Beowulf, Mandeville's Travels, the Alliterative Morte Arthure, and Sir Gowther reveal a shift in attitudes toward the gendered and sexed body, and thus toward identity, between the two periods: while Old English authors and artists respond to the threat of the gendered, monstrous form by erasing it, Middle English writers allow transgressive and monstrous bodies to transform and therefore integrate into society. This metamorphosis enables redemption for some monsters, while other monstrous bodies become dangerously flexible and invisible, threatening the communities they infiltrate. These changing cultural reactions to monstrous bodies demonstrate the precarious relationship between body and identity in medieval literature.
Papers by Dana Oswald
Lectures by Dana Oswald
Case studies of Wonders of the East, Beowulf, Mandeville's Travels, the Alliterative Morte Arthure, and Sir Gowther reveal a shift in attitudes toward the gendered and sexed body, and thus toward identity, between the two periods: while Old English authors and artists respond to the threat of the gendered, monstrous form by erasing it, Middle English writers allow transgressive and monstrous bodies to transform and therefore integrate into society. This metamorphosis enables redemption for some monsters, while other monstrous bodies become dangerously flexible and invisible, threatening the communities they infiltrate. These changing cultural reactions to monstrous bodies demonstrate the precarious relationship between body and identity in medieval literature.