malymin

The Only Good Wolf: Hunting Culture and the Medieval Werewolf

Introduction

Though werewolves are traditionally portrayed as rapacious and murderous even back to antiquity, several stories in the late twelfth century instead portray the werewolf in a sympathetic light: a chivalrous knight trapped through some deceit in the form of a wolf. Most modern scholarship interprets these unusual stories as representing medieval attitudes toward metamorphosis and hybridity, or as part of a wider cultural exploration of the boundary between human and animal. Little has been said, however, about the relationship between the sympathetic werewolf story and the increasing importance and popularity of hunting and pet-keeping during that same period. This paper redresses that gap by contextualizing three stories, “Bisclavret,” “Melion,” and “Arthur and Gorlagon,” within the broader medieval literary tradition of pet-keeping and hunting. This contextualization demonstrates that these werewolf stories are very much a reflection of medieval attitudes toward wolves and dogs. Examination of four key scenes appearing in each of these stories shows that the representation of the “tamed” werewolf in these stories parallels the representation of wolves and dogs found in a variety of contemporary sources including historical records, hunting manuals, ethnographies, hagiographical stories, bestiaries, and fables. Moreover, a close reading shows that the tamed (were)wolf is described in terms similar to those used to describe a well-behaved dog; and, in turn, the well-behaved dog is described in terms similar to those used to describe the ideal knight. The emphasis these stories place on the civility of the tamed werewolf therefore challenges traditional readings that stress the boundary these stories purportedly draw between human and animal; rather, these stories productively collapse those very boundaries.

Losing my mind trying to write a HUGE post on the gendering of animal-shapeshifter lovers in european folklore for Reasons and trying to figure out what to quote directly vs paraphrase, how to cite my sources, etc...

In the meantime, the two original paragraphs I have are this:

In popular English-language discussion and re-imaginings, the motif of the animal-wife with the stolen skin is probably best known through the selkie legend of the British isles. In my time on Tumblr, it is the version of the motif I have seen most frequently called upon for queer and feminist retellings and re-interpretations, as well as for transformative fanworks hybridizing copyrighted characters and stories with the bounty of the cultural commons. In my time at the local library, it is the version of the animal-wife I have most often seen in published graphic novels. It is the selkie-story that had an animated adaptation in Cartoon Saloon's Song of the Sea (2014), ten years ago as of writing.

And this:

Male shapeshifters, meanwhile, are not typically trapped into marriage-bondage in European folk stories; within the patriarchal gender roles of these stories, reflecting the cultural norms from which they have been born, the husband is always the master, and the wife the servant. Rather, male shapeshifters tend to be unbound threats, ruining human men's access to human virgins and wives. Whether they be Celtic seals, Slavic dragons, German water-horses, or whatever else - the man-shapeshifter tends to come and go freely of his own will, as lovers and seducers. They are far more a danger to the girls who love them than the other way around, with their untamed animal sexuality: they may drown her, make her sickly, or spirit her away to their own home.

The thing is, the selkie isn't even the main point of the post - I primarily want to talk about swan maidens, but I feel the need to draw comparisons to the selkie because there's more thorough accessible literature written on it in English, and also because I need to hilight the shapeshifter-seducer-man archetype being widespread to point out the absence of such a male counterpart to the swan maiden. (Outside of like, the very singular example of the Zeus and Leda story in Greek mythology.)

Does anyone have advice for how to not get overwhelmed? ^_^;