in happy academic news: I’ve just come across a literary article which is an asexual reading of Galahad in le Morte d’Arthur. Someone married medieval studies to asexuality. I’M SO HAPPY.
EVEN BETTER NEWS: you can access it for free on Arthuriana (it’s in issue 24.3). Here’s a direct link to the PDF.
I’m off to read it. Will report back.
I read it! And I LOVED it. Not that that’s hard … medieval studies happens to be my field and I’m a total medieval romance nerd. So asexual knighthood is now officially my new favorite subject. The author had some really interesting things to say on how to approach “asexuality” in the past. The way they applied it might not be useful for other fields of medieval studies, but it’s food for thought!
And an asexual reading of Galahad works so well! I have to reread Malory now. I’m also wondering how universal this ace!galahad representation is? How is he portrayed in other Arthurian romances and in other traditions like the French or German ones? Questions, questions. I will have to make a trip to the library. Luckily my to-read list now includes delightful titles like “menacing virgins”.
So what can you take away if you’re not a huge Middle Ages nerd like me? That ace!Galahad is totally a thing. Because asexuality is a very likely explanation of Galahad’s deal. Go forth and write Galahad-fiction, people.
Some thoughts on the definition of asexuality that was used
Excuse me, I’m just going to curl into a ball and cry because my nerdy side is overflowing with joy.
academic article on asexuality in the stories of King Arthur
Published
¯_( ಠ_ಠ)_/¯ 