Brides and doom : gender, property, and power in medieval German women's epic

Jerold C. Frakes approaches the __Nibelungenlied__, the __Klage__, and the __Kudrun__, epic poems central to the Middle High German tradition, through a set of literary, economic, and sociological interpretations, informed by a broad range of contemporary feminist scholarship. Contents 7 1. Introduction 9 2. Philology and/as Patriarchy: The Conventions of Nibelungenlied Scholarship 25 3. Women, Property, and Power 55 4. Pillow Talk: Intimate Conversations – Political Strategies 104 5. Teuton as Amazon: The Devil's Bride and the She-Devil 145 6. Inconclusive Intermezzo: The Monsters, the Critics, Diu Klage 178 7. Women, Sovereignty, and Class in Kudrun 190 8. Suone as Social (Trans)formation 227 9. Women’s Epic and/as Masculist Backlash 263 Bibliography 275 Index 297