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J Buckner's avatar

When I saw the title of your Substack for this week pop up in my email, I immediately wanted to read what I hoped would be a fabulous queer reading of the poem--and you did NOT disappoint. I usually wait until the weekend to write replies, so the fact that I'm now responding on Tuesday night should show the effect your post had on me. I am absolutely amazed at the level of detail you've given to several moments in the poem, touching (no pun intended) not only on moments of physical intimacy but also specific components of gender dynamics. As always, I was also quite amused by your tone in different parts of the newsletter; you have such a beautiful way with words.

To answer your question (I think it's obvious where I stand): there's something so deeply homoerotic--something far beyond the mere brotherly bond that we might associate with the knights of Camelot--happening between Sir Gawain and Bertilak as well as just with Sir Gawain himself as a solitary actor. I am impressed by your work already, but I loved your queer take and am leaving this week with even more thoughts on reading Sir Gawain with such a lens than I already had before. Kudos and bravo (and thanks)!

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Lilith Peckens's avatar

I personally believe that the probability is that this was just something that was culturally appropriate for the time period. ALTHOUGH, I do love the argument you made for it, and I desperately want to believe it. The idea of a queer quart-ship in medieval times sounds amazing. This story did definitely give me a fruity vibe, too. Especially with the description of the green knight when we first see him. The narrator sounds very… interested.

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