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Contains archival evidence and unpublished papers from Henry Bradshaw.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…
Gathers together previously known documents concerning Cecily Chaumpaigne with newly discovered documents. Documents are transcribed and translations provided.
Focuses on RvT and argues that newly discovered documents allow scholars to move beyond Chaucer's individual blame and address structural issues and concerns with language describing and depicting sexual assault in late medieval texts.
Harris, Carissa M.
Chaucer Review 57 (2022): 475-83.
In light of newly discovered documents surrounding Cecily Chaumpaigne, calls for more attention to the servant women depicted in Chaucer's texts and the use of the word "endure" in his corpus.
Reflects on the newly discovered documents in the case of Cecily Champagne, and contends that, regardless of whether Chaucer was to blame, medieval studies and Chaucerian critics remain at fault if they excused Chaucer on account of his poetry.…
