In her essay Gittes overemphasizes generalizations about Arabic mathematics, architecture, and literature, especially its "atomization" into component units.
Morris, Lynn Campbell King.
Dissertation Abstracts International 44 (1984): 3681A.
Describes methodology of this index to source and analogue criticism, covering 1598-1980, with annotated bibliography of 1,300 titles, and four indexes: authors, Chaucer's works, genres, and sources of analogues.
Olhoeft, Janet Ellen.
Dissertation Abstracts International 44 (1984): 2143A-44A.
Polarities in Chaucer's work lead the reader to nonjudgmental acceptance of opposites through involvement with characters,triangular relationships, and language.
Olson, Glending.
Lois Ebin, ed. Vernacular Poetics in the Middle Ages (Kalamazoo: Western Michigan University Press, Medieval Institute Publications, 1984), pp. 227-48.
Discusses lyric genres of Machaut, Froissart, Chaucer, and others to show that late-medieval society saw lyrics as "recreation, as conversation, as personal expression, as music." Treats TC, BD, GP, Buk, Purse, Truth, and Sted.
Payer, Pierre J.
Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1984.
In the development of sexual codes in the Penitentials, treatment of a wide variety of sexual behavior became more and more sophisticated in reaction to actual practice.
Robertson, D. W.,Jr.
David Lyle Jeffrey, ed. Chaucer and Scriptural Tradition (Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 1984), pp. 3-32.
Understanding medieval literary use of scriptural tradition requires knowledge of relevant social history, especially for Chaucer--not merely a "textual" man but a "moral, social, and political man." The complex Christian tradition, functioning…
Shigeo, Hisashi.
Chaucer to Kirisutokyo (Chaucer and Medieval Christianity) Symposium Series of Medieval English Literature 1. (Tokyo: Gaku-shobo, 1984): pp. 133-53.
Chaucer reached a temporal conclusion that free will is allowed when one seeks after goodness in compliance with Providence.
Sklute, Larry (M.)
Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1984.
Dream visions, TC, the "outer form" of CT, and individual tales reveal an authorial evasion of closed, authoritative determinations of meaning and moral values--correlative to the cognitive indeterminacy of late-medieval nominalism. CT is suited to…
Wentersdorf, Karl P.
Clifford Davidson, ed. Word, Picture, and Spectacle: Papers by Karl P. Wentersdorf, Roger Ellis, Clifford Davidson, and R. W. Hanning. Early Drama, Art, and Music Monograph Series 5 (Kalamazoo: Western Michigan University Medieval Institute Publications, 1984), pp. 1-19.
Not mere "doodles" but symbolic images, scatalogical images in the margins of medieval manuscripts derive ultimately from biblical and religious writing. Verbal scatalogy in MilT and SumT is serious, moralistic, not vicious.
Wildermuth, M. Catherine Turman.
Dissertation Abstracts International 45 (1984): 1112A.
Medieval literature uses pathos of innocent suffering to relate physical to spiritual. The humanization of Griselda highlights her Christian virtues; the Prioress emphasizes the spiritual; the Physician stimulates audience self-awareness.
Williman, Daniel, ed.
Binghamton, N.Y.: Center for Medieval and Early Renaissance Studies, 1982.
Six essays by various hands on the plague and its effects: demographics, millenarianism, iconography of death, the "Decameron," and Middle English literature.
Yeager, R. F.
Studies in the Age of Chaucer 6 (1984): 135-64.
Caxton's Chaucer is "moral," while Thynne's is "gentle." In their selection and rejection of texts both were guided by established critical principles.
Alford, John A.
David Lyle Jeffrey, ed. Chaucer and Scriptural Tradition (Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 1984), pp. 197-203.
On "glosing" and scriptural authority in WBP, WBT, FrT, and SumT. The groping motif of SumT is informed by Gen. 24:1-4 and 47:27, requiring an oath on the genitals.
Besserman, Lawrence [L.]
David Lyle Jeffrey, ed. Chaucer and Scriptural Tradition (Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 1984), pp. 65-73.
Chaucer used the "Glossa ordinaria" in WBT and MerT; his use of the term "glosing" shows his awareness of fraudulent exegetes. ParsT is more literal than exegetical. Chaucer's attitude toward exegesis was shaped by the antifraternalism of the…
Caie, Graham D.
David Lyle Jeffrey, ed. Chaucer and Scriptural Tradition (Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 1984), pp. 75-88.
Puzzling marginal glosses in Ellesmere, Hengwrt, and Cambridge Dd.4.24 may be intended to guide interpretation, as was customary even in vernacular texts. Accepted as integral to the text for a century, glosses serve various purposes in MLT, glossed…
