Boffey, Julia.
Corinne Saunders, ed. A Companion to Medieval Poetry (Malden, Mass.: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010), pp. 538-54.
Boffey describes the nature and circulation of Middle English poetic manuscripts and early printed editions, with recurrent comments on manuscript production and traces of readers' responses. Draws examples from a wide variety of manuscripts and…
Da Rold, Orietta.
Essays and Studies 63 (2010): 43-58.
Suggests that analysis of the physical makeup of manuscripts is a way to understand the production and use of Middle English texts. Focuses on the multilingualism in texts, the different functions of texts in a single book, and scribal output.…
Da Rold, Orietta.
Elaine Treharne and Greg Walker, with the assistance of William Green, eds. The Oxford Handbook of Medieval Literature in English (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), pp. 33-56.
Surveys textual practices in Old and Middle English literary culture, focusing on authorial anxieties about scribes, and comparing what is known and surmised about the texts of Ælfric's "Catholic Homilies" and Chaucer's CT.
Edwards, A. S. G.
Essays and Studies 63 (2010): 59-73.
Studies the reception of the Ellesmere manuscript of CT and its use by scholars, concluding that the manuscript is remarkable not only for the poem it records but also for the part it plays in development of modern ideas about the author.
Pakkala-Weckström, Mari.
Alaric Hall, Olga Timofeeva, Ágnes Kiricsi, and Bethany Fox, eds. Interfaces Between Language and Culture in Medieval England: A Festschrift for Matti Kilpiö. The Northern World, no. 48 (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2010), pp. 307-27.
Pakkala-Weckström compares translations (three modern English and one modern Finnish) of passages from three fabliaux (MilT, MerT, and ShT), examining how well they preserve the politeness features of Chaucer's originals.
Paradoxically, readers of Chaucer are assumed to respond "intuitively" and yet also to need the aid of specialized academic assistance. The Early English Text Society (EETS) and the Chaucer Society played crucial roles in creating this paradox and,…
Reale, Nancy M.
Kathleen A. Bishop, ed. Standing in the Shadow of the Master? Chaucerian Influences and Interpretations (Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars, 2010), pp. 257-86.
Reale summarizes the versions of Chaucer's tales that abound on the internet, suggesting that each has its own agenda for re-presenting Chaucer.
Explores how the Manly-Rickert edition of CT "undoes its own arguments about textual history by noting its own textual history of doubt and contingency," suggesting that Manly and Rickert "tell stories" about the composition of CT and that the death…
Critiques the Manly-Rickert text of CT for inconsistency in treatment of orthographic accidentals and failure to maintain a consistent, identifiable copy-text. Recommends, nevertheless, judicious use of the Manly-Rickert table of variants.
First-time translation of CT into Frisian, following Chaucer's verse forms and omitting Mel and ParsT. Designed for a popular audience rather than a scholarly one. The source text is Albert Baugh's "Chaucer's Major Poetry" (1963), with translation…
Summarizes Roy Vance Ramsey's (1994, 2010) defense of the Manly-Rickert text of CT, including Ramsey's recognition of the "piecemeal" production of the eight-volume work and his assessment of the dates and scribes of the Hg, El, and Dd manuscripts.
The "textual-critical ferment" of the 1980s prompted two "editorial ideas" that have largely (and sadly) been ignored by Chaucer editors and teachers: Derek Pearsall's suggestion that an edition of CT should allow the fragments to be arranged…
Critiques Roy Vance Ramey's defense of the Manly-Rickert text of CT and castigates Ramsey's own methods and practices. The Manly-Rickert edition is valuable for its demonstration that "recension" cannot be used to construct a reliable text of CT, and…
Kelen, Sarah A.
New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.
Kelen studies the reception of William Langland and "Piers Plowman" from the early modern period to the early twentieth century. She focuses on editions of the work and the works it inspired, efforts to identify Langland and construct his biography,…
Crépin, André, and others, trans., in collaboration with Ann Wéry.
Paris: Laffont, 2010.
Bilingual edition of the works of Chaucer, based on The Riverside Chaucer. Includes CT, Rom, BD, HF, Anel, PF, Bo, TC, LGW, short poems, Astr, Equat, and French poems attributed to Chaucer. Translators include André Crépin, Jean-Jacques Blanchot,…
Comments on questions of "prior circulation and authorial revision" that were disclosed by the Manly-Rickert edition of CT and suggests that recent advances in codicology and the history of the book may offer future editors new perspectives from…
Davis examines ramifications of the interplay between graphic design and text in William Morris's Kelmscott edition of Chaucer, arguing that the consequent mediation is a precursor to Walter Benjamin's theorized divorce of mechanically reproduced art…
This updated version of Murphy's computer-based project includes "audioglossed" versions of GP, MilT, PardT, and NPT in which readers hear the text in modern pronunciation. In addition, unfamiliar words are glossed to the ear rather than visually.…
Robinson, Carol L., and Pamela Clements
Studies in Medievalism 18 (2009): 55-75.
Notes (on pp. 65-67) a BBC One production of six tales in CT that aims to present the Wife of Bath as "a wonderful, feisty, bawdy, independent woman who is very much alive and living in the 21st century"; a Canadian (Baba Brinkman) who has…
Surveys the array of Chaucer biographies derived sequentially from early accounts and editions, portraits, life records, literature, and popular culture, including recent blogging. Describes Chaucer's early entry into court life, his court duties,…
Legal proceedings following the 1390 roadside theft from Chaucer while he was on the King's business demonstrate the folly of any medieval challenge to hierarchical prerogative by a gang representing antihierarchical attitudes. Theoretically…
Allen, Mark, and Bege K. Bowers.
SAC 32 (2010): 477-578.
Continuation of SAC annual annotated bibliography (since 1975); based on contributions from an international bibliographic team, independent research, and MLA Bibliography listings. 337 items, plus listing of reviews for 92 books. Includes an author…
