--- Robison Michael R CNIN <
Robison_M@crane.navy.mil> wrote:
> the farthest back i can put
> a
> finger on this kind of hero ideal is the concept
of
> chiv-
> alry, which evolved during the medieval period,
but
> because
> of a breakdown in author/publisher
negotiations,
> didn't
> show up in literature until the 14th (_sir
gawain
> and the
> green knight_) and 15th (_le morte
d'arthur_)
> centuries.
It's not really on topic, but I have to argue for a much,
much earlier date for the origins of chivalric literature.
Certainly we see this ideal in The Song of Roland which dates
back probably to something like 1050 (and is a fun read, if
you're into that kind of thing).
Actually, since I think of detective fiction as chivalric, I
suppose I can consider myself on-topic here, although I may
be the only one.
Someone, I don't remember who but don't think it was miker,
mentioned the classical Greeks as looking down on homosexual
behavior, unless I misunderstood the post. This is incorrect.
Homosexual behavior (I'm using that phrase on purpose,
because the idea of being "gay" or "straight" would have been
alien to the Greeks of that time, so I'm strictly talking
behavior here) was widespread, particularly among the upper
classes. This continued on into the Hellenistic period until
the spread of Christianity throughout Europe.
G.
===== George C. Upper III, Editor The Lightning Bell Poetry
Journal http://www.lightningbell.org/
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