Allen J. Frantzen (born 1947 or 1948) is an American

medievalist The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...

with a specialization in

Old English literature Old English literature refers to poetry and prose written in Old English in early medieval England, from the 7th century to the decades after the Norman conquest of England, Norman Conquest of 1066, a period often termed Anglo-Saxon England. Th ...

. Since retiring from

Loyola University Chicago Loyola University Chicago (Loyola or LUC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1870 by the Society of Jesus, Loyola is one of the largest Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Cathol ...

, he has been an

emeritus professor ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

Education and career

Frantzen grew up in rural

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

and earned a degree in English from

Loras College Loras College is a private Catholic college in Dubuque, Iowa. It has an enrollment of approximately 1,600 students and is the oldest post-secondary institution in the state of Iowa. The school offers both undergraduate and graduate degree ...

and a PhD from the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

with a dissertation on the literature of

penance Penance is any act or a set of actions done out of Repentance (theology), repentance for Christian views on sin, sins committed, as well as an alternate name for the Catholic Church, Catholic, Lutheran, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox s ...

in the Anglo-Saxon period. He was a faculty member at Loyola University Chicago from 1978 until his retirement in 2014, when he was named an emeritus professor. While there he headed the graduate programs in English from 1984 to 1988 and in 1992 founded the Loyola Community Literacy Center, which is open to the community as well as to students at the university.

Publications

Frantzen has published introductory works intended for students, such as ''King Alfred'' (1986) and ''Troilus and Criseyde': The Poem and the Frame'' (1993) on

Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer (; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for '' The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He w ...

's ''

Troilus and Criseyde ''Troilus and Criseyde'' () is an epic poem by Geoffrey Chaucer which re-tells in Middle English the tragic story of the lovers Troilus and Criseyde set against a backdrop of war during the siege of Troy. It was written in '' rime royale'' an ...

''. He also co-edited ''The Work of Work. Servitude, Slavery, and Labor in Medieval England'' (1994) with Douglas Moffat. His first book was on the subject-matter of his dissertation, ''The Literature of Penance in Anglo-Saxon England'' (1983); he returned to the Anglo-Saxon penitential literature in ''Before the Closet: Same-Sex Love from 'Beowulf' to 'Angels in America'' (1998), in which, himself a gay man, he argues that contrary to

John Boswell John Eastburn Boswell (March 20, 1947December 24, 1994) was an American historian and a full professor at Yale University. Many of Boswell's studies focused on the issue of religion and homosexuality, specifically Christianity and homosexuality. ...

's argument, same-sex relations were not tolerated more by the Church before the

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Conque ...

, but rather the relationships were not "closeted"; he takes what he calls a "legitimist" rather than a "liberationist" view of the textual evidence. The book has been described as "groundbreaking". Frantzen has also published critiques of the field of Old English studies: ''Desire for Origins: New Language, Old English, and Teaching the Tradition'' (1990), a study of the history of the field, and ''Speaking Two Languages: Traditional Disciplines and Contemporary Theory in Medieval Studies'' (1991). The former, in which Frantzen argues that Anglo-Saxon studies are increasingly regarded as hidebound because of the insular approach within the field, attracted much notice. Fred C. Robinson wrote that it "should be read by all medievalists who care about their profession." In 1994 Frantzen was the keynote speaker at a conference at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

that was published as ''Anglo-Saxonism and the Construction of Social Identity'' (1997). In ''Bloody Good: Chivalry, Sacrifice, and the Great War'' (2004) he studied the mythology of

chivalry Chivalry, or the chivalric code, is an informal and varying code of conduct developed in Europe between 1170 and 1220. It was associated with the medieval Christianity, Christian institution of knighthood; knights' and gentlemen's behaviours we ...

and of '' imitatio Christi'' as motivations for participants in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. After his retirement, Frantzen wrote a blog post dated September 2015 titled "How to Fight Your Way Out of the Feminist Fog" in which he aligned himself with the

men's rights movement The men's rights movement (MRM) is a branch of the men's movement. The MRM in particular consists of a variety of groups and individuals (men's rights activists or MRAs) who focus on general social issues and specific government services whic ...

against what he argued were the anti-man demands of

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

s; this provoked disapproving responses from certain medievalists after it was publicized in early 2016.

Honors

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

, 1993 *Loyola University Faculty Member of the Year 1991, Master Teacher (College of Arts & Sciences) 1997–98, Faculty Scholar 2000. *Teaching Excellence Award of the

Medieval Academy of America The Medieval Academy of America (MAA; spelled Mediaeval until c. 1980) is the largest organization in the United States promoting the field of medieval studies. It was founded in 1925 and is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The academy publishes ...

, 2013 *''Opera Omnia: A Festspiel for Allen J. Frantzen'': celebratory conference organized by former students, 2015.

References

External links

Personal website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frantzen, Allen Living people American medievalists Anglo-Saxon studies scholars Loyola University Chicago faculty Loras College alumni Place of birth missing (living people) University of Virginia alumni 1940s births American gay writers 21st-century LGBT people