Oefeningen in genot: Liefde en lust in de late Middeleeuwen
Herman Pleij
Prometheus, 2020
€29,95
For centuries the church imprisoned the body. Marriage was for the reproduction and the muting of lusts. Enjoyment was out of the question. But didn’t the body have sexual equipment that automatically ignited pleasure? And wasn’t the sensual Song of Songs the manual for that? Earthly enjoyment of the Bible. In the late Middle Ages, literature was the designated test station for its justifications.
First, wild sex was projected on caricature farmers under the guise of moral indignation. But around 1500, shipping companies created modern literature that glorified enjoyable sex. It is almost shocking to read how these virtually unknown texts manage to turn detailed garbage into artistic forms. Sexual liberation also taught that assault and rape belonged to the higher love art. Wasn’t that what women actually wanted? This was followed by repression in the sixteenth century.
The Catholic Church banned depictions of Mary’s bare breast, the Reformation forced pleasure back into reproduction and rape was seriously prosecuted. Do all sexual revolutions then proceed in the same way? IN DUTCH!
ISBN: 9789044642803
