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Show E RE5EA Decadent Kisses: Oscar Wilde's Salome and St. Bernard's Sermons on the Song of Songs lie L. Price (Craig Dworkin) Departm#nt of English* Uni varsity of Utah Poiicobnlal thenisti iedL h us. That [o iii.ijin-.iii "auiheotiL other" ii 10 befcve In a falsity la bdlevethat re mayfind tnetrue or jui hen[lc Middfe Age* juhjeai us [o fjKe r»pe Someschol-ji-s belfeve thai wt ihknu kd ii y [o leconiiiutnhe MiddfeA^ei"on itiown teim^and Inuglne that ai pc get niofe and more piece* t£ [he pussle. oui undemanolng of the Middle Age will Increase (Pan of l he prob-¦ i v" i nwdfeVdil studies-is [hdt muth of [he work. Ldtak^ulr^ ieirlevlr^nansJailn^e[cT"rs yeiio te done. 1 he u ndsriidifcdlng of lhe Ideal hlitofbrx populdr ii nee to mantle I snu a a one wnocan l> ¦ recfinatruct tfie pafl ha* t»en iectntly t haller^ed by ooalniotfcm thinkers and rs k mi supponln iMKhd^pditineiiti Iheih^ughi l hd[ any hiitortcalmomenc is a puzzle whit h Lin bt pur togei her. given enou^ h ti me. his been dl^mani ted Yet lhis-typs of scholdiishlp i - found iomewhaiof i haven among medievdnst^ although sonw. iuth. WdlfcerBynum. Lee ^dtterson. dnd Urn t*f io tto. d ie pusni ng the field of medtevalii udfei In nehv and Ihaescholiii.tithlnihelr D«n^dyJhdvepdntlpa[edln rnei heds of Inquiry aim 10 CldUde Ltvl-StraLss" notion Ah \\&uq h j teii tridlibnaL and therefcie sonwtmwi yiert"ed a lefi^e-sfuiHfbl^'fanri of crhtisfix sfhobrs have lhntt*d todi and mater idli. ind ne|jier[hefeii hDldlntefeiudlprombe I he purpose oFthla type LTfKhobrthip It not to find an "authentk other' but rather to ue* a wide variety of looli. KmcepIiTEKtE, and rnaierlali In undentandl ng any given tedcr hlsloncal mcfnent In Leul-Si rauH mind, the ncn \on l hat one can neuer 1ruly know an cm her b ncM a fact of despair, but raliier an occasion for a type of miel-leciual Freedom Somewhat In keeping with Levl-^trauat genera I dears. I would argue that to Imagine 1 hat we are distinct from the WKkJIeAges.'pre-rnodern^as-many call the perkxL R to sever cm rser^ea tompfete|y From a historical p^E-t which haunis and Informs the present With this In mind, my E^per examines- two hiaorlcallu disparate author^ one medieval and one modern- St Ber nard oF C blrvaux and Oscar W de. fthhough they seem compete epposhtes In many respects, I find an Irrteiesl-irg p^ral tl In Bernard e- Vermont on the Song oFSongs and Wll[^ Salome. Kls-slng It a key metaphor througrwui tothiexrs ^t Bernard writes that before one can Wst'the kits oF his [Cod or Chrlst'sl mouth.'one must, meta-phorkally. hra kits the wou ndi of t_hr15-1 s- feet and hands. I argue thai 1 he ascension oF the 1 h ree kls-ses-from Feet, to hand^ to mcmifi-rs not one thai results In escaping wounds but in bet culminates- In a klsswfth wound rtself For Bernard the mouth Ie-ncM a woundlets 5-rieH but rather Wound Wilde e- ^lome si langely perverts and [£ral fels this-when ^lome krstes the decaprtaied Land therein lies thepervers-cnj lokaruan. Bringing these two ueehE toojether in 1 heir own kind oF decadent kiss- reueals- thai bcMh^t Bernards mystical kls-s-and Salomes actua klE-s-are concerned wkh tasting, or more radkall^ eating wounds. |