A wideranging and groundbreaking investigation of the sibling
relationship as shown in European literature, from 500 to 1500.
The literature of the European Middle Ages attends closely to the
relationship of brother and sister, laying bare sibling behaviours in
their most dramatic forms as models to emulate, to marvel at or to
avoid. The literary treatment of siblings opens up multiple perspectives
on brothers' and sisters' emotions: love, hate, rivalry, desire,
nurturing and ambivalence underlie sibling stories. These narratives are
in turn inflected by rank, social context andmost crucially, gender.
This book examines these sibling relationships, focusing on the
important vernacular literatures of Iceland, France, England and
Germany, and building on recent research on siblings in psychology,
history and social science. Multiple and subtle patterns in sibling
interaction are teased out, such as the essential sibling task of
"borderwork" (the establishment of individuality despite genetic
resemblance), and the tensions caused by the easy substitutability of
one sibling for another in certain social situations. When the sibling
bond is extended to the in-law relation, complex emotional, strategic
and political forces and powerful ambivalences nuancethe relationship
still further. Quasi-siblings: foster- or sworn-brothers complete the
sibling picture in ways which reflect and contrast with the sibling
blood-tie.
CAROLYNE LARRINGTON is a Fellow and Tutor in medieval English literature
at St John's College, University of Oxford.
