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Author Kuffner, Emily, author.

Title Fictions of containment in the Spanish female picaresque : architectural space and prostitution in the early modern Mediterranean / Emily Kuffner
Published Amsterdam : Amsterdam University Press, [2019]

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Description 1 online resource (222 pages)
Contents Frontmatter -- Table of Contents -- Introduction: Fictions of Containment -- 1. Prostitution in the Early Modern Spanish Mediterranean -- 2. Public Space and Public Women -- 3. Coaches of Deception: The Predatory PĂ­cara -- 4. Prostitutes in the Window -- 5. The Doors of Paradise -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Index
Summary This study examines the interdependence of gender, sexuality and space in the early modern period, which saw the inception of architecture as a discipline and gave rise to the first custodial institutions for women, among them convents for reformed prostitutes. Meanwhile, conduct manuals established prescriptive mandates for female use of space, concentrating especially on the liminal spaces of the home. This work traces literary prostitution in the Spanish Mediterranean through the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, from the rise of courtesan culture in several key areas through the shift from tolerance of prostitution toward repression. Kuffner's analysis pairs canonical and noncanonical works of fiction with didactic writing, architectural treatises, and legal mandates, tying the literary practice of prostitution to increasing control over female sexuality during the Counter Reformation. By tracing erotic negotiations in the female picaresque novel from its origins through later manifestations, she demonstrates that even as societal attitudes towards prostitution shifted dramatically, a countervailing tendency to view prostitution as an essential part of the social fabric undergirds many representations of literary prostitutes. Kuffner's analysis reveals that the semblance of domestic enclosure figures as a primary erotic strategy in female picaresque fiction, allowing readers to assess the variety of strategies used by authors to comment on the relationship between unruly female sexuality and social order
Analysis prostitution, literature, early modern, sexuality, space
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Vendor-supplied metadata
Subject Picaresque literature -- History and criticism
Sex role in literature.
Architecture in literature.
Literary studies: c. 1500 to c. 1800.
LITERARY CRITICISM -- European -- Spanish & Portuguese.
Architecture in literature
Picaresque literature
Sex role in literature
Genre/Form Criticism, interpretation, etc.
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9789048538171
9048538173