Studies in Medievalism XXXIV: Tribal Medievalisms

The themes of tribalism and medievalism unite this wide-ranging collection of essays. Essays address queer medievalisms in and around Gwen Lally's historical pageants and Radclyffe Hall's The Well of Loneliness; Robert Glück's 1994 novel Margery Kempe; and forms of gender tribalism in and around Josephine Butler's Catharine of Siena: A Biography. Gender is further explored alongside the central theme, with surveys of tribal gendering of masculinity in C. S. Lewis's Prince Caspian and its film; tribalism in medievalist bandits beyond Robin Hood and his "merry" band; and tribal gendering of femininity in the films Brave and Sleeping Beauty. There are also contributions on colonialist tribalism in the staging of Camelot in Richard E. Grant's film Wah-Wah; nationalistic tribalism in German pride, refracted through American frontier attitudes towards Native Americans; tribal perspectives of Native Americans in Guy Gavriel Kay's Fionavar Tapestry; the death of Optimus Prime in Transformers: The Movie as an act that stirs fans' tribal passions; and Carolingian legends as both reflecting and superseding tribal affiliations in twentieth-century America.