Examines LGW as a poetic work that invites criticism as a function of how it is structured. Looks in depth at Alceste and her efforts in the poem, reappraising how she achieves success with the God of Love.
Thompson, Kenneth J.
Chaucer Review 56.3 (2021): 280-95.
Focuses on the Yeoman of GP, suggesting that the figure may have been based on Richard II's archers of the crown. Examines the life of Thomas Forster of Drybek, one of these archers, catalogues biographical information about him, and suggests he is a…
Beidler, Peter G.
Chaucer Review 56.3 (2021): 296-308.
References a previous article from thirty-five years ago that discussed various translations of important passages from Chaucer and appraised them. As a companion piece, considers ten verse translations of the opening lines of CT. Concludes with an…
Baechle, Sarah, and Carissa M. Harris.
Chaucer Review 56.4 (2021): 311-21.
Introduces a special edition centered on Chaucerian scholarship and its relationship to power, empire, class, race, and gender, suggesting how scholars can navigate the toxic nature of Chaucer and his writings. Considers how scholars can "write about…
Examines the trauma of sexual violence, focusing on Chaucer's rape of Cecily Chaumpaigne, contextualizing the study of trauma through contemporary theorists Cathy Caruth and Ruth Leys along with Astr. Considers "the relationship between Chaucer's…
Flannery, Mary C.
Chaucer Review 56.4 (2021): 360-77.
Discusses the long-standing view of Chaucer as a fun, perhaps obscene writer, suggesting that readers "are invested in protecting their ability to enjoy Chaucer freely." References Kate Manne's notion of "himpathy," or the "excessive sympathy" felt…
Employs critical race studies and adaptation studies to trace the role and frequency of "somatic brownness" in CT and Rom. Considers brownness as a racial category that is capacious, before tracing "Chaucerian brownness" in several modern…
Considers PrT and its depiction of premodern antisemitism and relation to premodern race. Ties PrT's construction of Jews as a cursed monolith to the workings of structural racism. Discusses Agbabi's "Sharps an Flats," which demonstrates "how…
Considers locations in Chaucer's corpus where he might have depicted divine speech, before highlighting how Jesus' words serve as "auctoritas" in ParsT. Comparing this method to the absence of depictions of divine speech in Chaucer's other works,…
Focuses on Jason in LGW and other sexually predatory men, examines a number of motifs in Chaucer's version of Jason, and highlights the danger of men such as Jason who hide their behavior behind gentility.
Traces the tension between reading ecocritically and figuratively, highlighting moments of grafting in MkT and Rom, and reads these moments of horticulture more literally.
Kowalik, Barbara Janina.
Chaucer Review 57 (2022): 162-89.
Considers FranT as a Breton lay that recalls, not ancient history, but Chaucer's recent memories of his own stays in France, tying the tale to the marital situation of Joan of Kent.
Considers the young child who watches the wife and monk in ShT, arguing that Chaucer's construction of narrative perspective, which the child embodies, anticipates more modern handling of narrative perspective, including that of Henry James.
Argues that the language of Ret should not be understood as a modern retraction would be; expresses skepticism that Ret is actually meant to retract works like CT.
Considers the end of NPT and the Bible verse Romans 15:4. Claims the verse is used to bridge the two opposing views of Chaucer's intent in his writing, attempting to unite the morally serious poet with the subversive poet.
Meyer-Lee, Robert J.
Chaucer Review 57 (2022): 253-72.
Highlights the three-volume edition of Chaucer's works published in 1879 by Arthur Gilman, emphasizing the achievements of Gilman as an editor and situating his scholarly activities in his then-contemporary context.
Contains archival evidence and unpublished papers from Henry Bradshaw. Examines Bradshaw's "rhyme tests," which he used to establish Chaucerian authorship of the "Tale of Gamelyn" and Rom, and accounts for Walter W. Skeat's sometimes incorrect…
Demonstrates that PF reflects a movement from natural law to a more subjective interpretation of individual rights and ties this transition to the crisis of "commonalty" in the late fourteenth century.
Bartlett, Robyn A.
Chaucer Review 57 (2022): 321-44.
Highlights that BD conveys the inevitability and incomprehensibility of death, offering a reading of the poem that moves beyond consolation of poetry and memory.
Examines the frequent mention of Griselda's face in ClT, as compared to his sources, and simultaneously argues that Chaucer's version highlights Griselda's interiority and how she maintains her patience.
Examines music as a coequal to rhetoric and a branch of medieval philosophy to argue that Chaucer's beast fable traces and complicates three major tenets of Boethian and medieval music theory.
Roger, Euan, and Sebastian Sobecki.
Chaucer Review 57 (2022): 407-37.
Examines newly discovered documents to argue that Chaucer and Cecily Chaumpaigne were both party to Staundon's legal maneuvers, and that, because of the Statute of Laborers, Chaumpaigne's quit claim offered a resolution. Presents a reappraisal of…
