A recognition of the Pardoner as a "parodic relic custodian" calls for a fresh look at his sexuality--relic custodians were to be celibate--and casts into relief the tension in CT between restrictive ecclesiastical power and "lay desire" for access…
A petition in the hand of Pinkhurst requesting that a permanent deputy be appointed to relieve Chaucer of his duties as controller of the wool custom establishes their connection in 1385. However, codicological evidence suggests that the poet "was no…
Fein, Susanna, and David Raybin.
ChauR 46.1-2 (2011): 1-9.
Introduces the essays in a double-issue of "Chaucer Review" dedicated to C. David Benson; includes a black-and-white picture of Benson and a bibliography of his publications.
Argues that SNT "presents conversion as a choice stimulated by apprehension of the divine through the senses" and accomplished by a "radical act of the will, unmediated and immediate, if not inherently violent."
Assesses the relations between universality and particularity as epistemological modes in MLT, exploring allegory and individuality, realism and nominalism, and generalization and specification in the characterization of Custance and how she is…
Considers how the "professional identity" of the teller informs concerns with justice in MLT. Engagement with mercantile law, common law, natural law, divine intervention, and the "limitations of human justice" pervade MLPT and indicate an uncertain…
The language and imagery of demonic temptation versus human free will connect FrT and SumT and gain dimension by comparison with ClT. Thomas of SumT is called "demonyak," but his scatological riposte to the friar is justified anger.
Examines shame as a force in identity construction and a constraint on female agency, focusing on Criseyde in TC and Dido in HF, and briefly mentioning LGW. As an historical force, shame also determines narrative possibilities in these poems.
In the five instances in which "male," meaning "bag or pouch" or "holder of writing," appears in CT, the word can also mean "man, male gender, or genitals," "stomach," and "wrongdoing." Through this wordplay, Chaucer reveals his anxieties about the…
Analyzes the Parson's use of "myrie" in ParsP in terms of the "internal generic matrix" constructed by the Parson in the ParsT. Focuses on Tzvetan Todorov's and Paul Strohm's writings on genre.
Focuses on how the idiomatic phrase "for goddes love" is used in TC as "an expression of power" and how the phrase "appeals to a divine system of mercy and justice" when used by Troilus, Criseyde, and Pandarus.
Argues that the phrase "for gode" in MilT (I.3526) is not, as is often assumed, a misspelling meaning "by God," but rather an intentional use of a phrase appearing in unsophisticated texts of the period. The phrase has similarly been misunderstood in…
Owing to waning interest, the Chaucer Library, which had sought to present the works Chaucer knew, will cease following the publication of Boccaccio's "Teseida."
Examines how Lydgate's "Legend of Dan Joos" recasts the opening of GP into a representation of eternal redemption in praise of Mary in his own aureate style.
Addresses how Chaucer's bawdiness is perceived in the United States. Includes issues of censorship related to CT, with focus on curricula changes over the past few decades.
Van Nolcken, Christina.
ChauR 47.1 (2012): 107-33.
Discusses William Thomas Stead's 1895 publication of Masterpiece Library's CT, part of the "Penny Poets" series, and its effects on the circulation of Chaucer's works.
Examines Giles of Rome's social theory and its vision of unity and hierarchy, as well as the degree to which it might have been influential in Chaucer's time, commenting on the Wife of Bath's discussion of "gentilesse." Also refers to LGW; HF; KnT;…
Examines the grove in KnT in the context of hunting and forest laws; reveals how Chaucer alters Boccaccio's "Teseida" to turn the grove first into a politicized space of human discord and then into a space of destruction, evoking warfare among men…
Presents a version of the Griselda story from Thomas III, Marquis of Saluzzo (c. 1355-1416) in "Le chevalier errant," and analyzes how fourteenth-century audiences would have reacted to Chaucer's version in ClT. Includes a translation of Thomas's…
Suggests Chaucer's portrayal of Criseyde challenges the "traditional 'descriptio' as a restrictive benchmark of feminine beauty." Describes Criseyde's transformations in TC as an "experiential journey through love and war."
Analyzes Criseyde, arguing that Chaucer forces the reader's "active engagement" with the language in Criseyde's soliloquy, which reinforces the ambiguity of her character.
Suggests possible sources for Chaucer's ideas on parenthood that influenced CkT, including the "Wisdom commentary of Dominican friar, Robert Holcot." Also compares Holcot's views on parental responsibility with those in PhyT.
