Of Giants: sex, monsters and the Middle Ages

Jeffery Jerome Cohen

University of MINNESOTA Press, 1999 - Social Science - 235 pages

A psychoanalytic look at the representation of monsters, giants and masculinity in medieval texts. The phenomenon of giants and giant-slaying appear in various texts from the Anglo-Saxon to late Middle English period, including Beowulf, The Knight and the Lion, History of the Kings of Britain and several of Chaucer's books.

What people are saying

Review: Of Giants: Sex, Monsters, And The Middle Ages (Medieval Cultures #17)

User Review  - Maria Maniaci - Goodreads

Interesting, and pretty readable. He goes a little Lacan-happy in places, but overall it's a good intro to the why and how of monsters, and why society needs to perpetuate them.

Review: Of Giants: Sex, Monsters, And The Middle Ages (Medieval Cultures #17)

User Review  - Nathaniel - Goodreads

an interesting and entertaining lacanian/ historical consideration of giants in medieval literature.

About the author

Jeffrey Jerome Cohen is Associate Professor of English and Human Sciences at George Washington University.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Of Giants: sex, monsters and the Middle Ages; Volume 17 of Medieval Cultures, V. 17
• Author: Jeffery Jerome Cohen
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: University of MINNESOTA Press, 1999
• ISBN: 0816632170, 9780816632176
• Length: 235 pages
• Subjects: History / Medieval; Social Science / Anthropology / Cultural