Noonan, John T.,Jr.
Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1987.
Studies bribery in a "variety of cultures from ancient Egypt to modern America," with short treatments of Chaucer (pp. 287-90, powerfully articulating "the anti-bribery ethic" in FrT, SumT, PardT, ClT, ParsT); Langland (pp. 275-79); and Dante (pp.…
Ormrod, W. M.
Journal of British Studies 26 (1987): 398-422.
Edward III achieved his dynastic ambitions through military activity, careful marriages, and apportionment of lands and titles among his children. By 1377, his plans lay in ruins,and Richard II's abrasiveness destroyed Plantagenet harmony.
Gleason, Mark J.
Medievalia et Humanistica 15 (1987): 161-87.
Treats the previously ignored commentary of Trevet on "The Consolation of Philosophy," which served Chaucer as the primary or sole commentary in his translation of Bo and which he drew for TC 3.
Olsen, Alexandra Hennessey.
Geardagum 08 (1987): 1-12.
Critics have argued that Chaucer intended the reader to view Criseyde as a woman destined to be a whore, Diomede as an unscrupulous seducer, and Troilus as an ideal knight. But if a fourteenth-century view is adopted, Diomede can be viewed in a…
Boyd, Beverly.
Florilegium 9 (1990, for 1987): 147-54.
Almost all Chaucer's poetry specifically addressed to Mary includes translation, adaptation, or quotations from disparate sources brought together via "collage" technique. This layered effect has precedent in church liturgy and macaronic lyric.
Review of "Legenda femeilor cinstite si alte poeme" (1986). Dan Dutescu, praised as a highly sensitive translator possessing the "quintessence" of the art of translation, has given Romania its first complete Chaucer translation--of LGW.
Threadgold, Terry.
Ross Steele and Terry Threadgold, eds. Language Topics: Essays in Honor of Michael Halliday, 2 vol. (Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 1987), 2:549-97.
Language is enormously affected by social and historical forces, making our understanding of it apart from those forces difficult. Comparison of Chaucer's HF with Pope's eighteenth-century "imitation" reveals two distinct, shaping grammars, which…
Erzgräber, Willi.
H. Maes-Jelinek et al., eds. Multiple Worlds, Multiple Words: Essays in Honour of Irene Simon (Liege: University of Liege, English Department, 1987), pp. 103-21.
Examines Chaucer's fabliaux (MilT and RvT) as designed for a courtly audience and TC as revealing a "subtle interplay between nobility, gentry, and the middle class." Chaucer's work is symptomatic of a general literary development: "the exploration…
Maes-Jelinek, H., Pierre Michel, and Paulette Michel-Michot, eds.
Liege: University of Liege, English Department, 1987.
Collects twenty-six essays by various hands. For three essays that pertain to Chaucer, search for Multiple Worlds, Multiple Words under Alternative Title.
Thiebaux, Marcelle, trans. and introd.
New York and London: Garland, 1987.
Presents translations of the "literature of medieval women from the fourth to the fourteenth century in a wide variety of genres: letters, travel accounts, lyrics, and religious works. Writers include Egeria, Dhuoda, Hrotswitha, Anna Comnena, Marie…
Kikuchi, Shigeo.
Hiroshima Studies in English Language and Literature 32 (1987): 44-53.
Argues that a semiotic analysis of oppositions in the narrative structure of CT yields a better understanding of Chaucer's perception of the nature of reality.
Andrew, Malcolm.
Archiv fur das studium der Neueren Sprachen und Literaturen 224 (1987): 355-57.
The comparison of Alison to a swallow in MilT 3257-58 may refer to the story of Procne. The tale (from Ovid) is mentioned both in Gower's "Confessio Amantis" and in Chaucer's TC; it suggests the very sort of material woe found in MiltT.
Edden, Valerie.
Ilha do Desterro 18:2 (1987):15-33.
Analyzes MilT "using a theory of narrative analogous with transformational grammar," which assumes not merely a "grammar of narrative" but also "narrative competence," or ability of the reader or hearer to understand. Edden explores the function of…
Bishop, Ian.
London and Melbourne: Everyman's University Library, 1987.
Reviews various theories about the overall design of CT, warning that individual tales can be ignored, though CT is greater than the sum of its parts, and that Chaucer's final intentions concerning the order of the tales are unknown. In an analysis…
Mertens-Fonck, Paule.
H. Maes-Jelinek et al., eds. Multiple Worlds, Multiple Words: Essays in Honour of Irene Simon (Liege: University of Liege, Department of English, 1987), pp. 175-92.
In their defense of women, Chaucer and the anonymous author of "The Owl and the Nightingale" seem to have drawn on the same description of the Adulterous Woman of Proverbs 7. Chaucer also uses the image of the Virtuous Woman and gives Alice knightly…
Dor, Juliette.
H. Maes-Jelinek et al., eds. Multiple Worlds, Multiple Words: Essays in Honour of Irene Simon (Liege: University of Liege, English Department, 1987), pp. 69-77.
Both the female world of the opening lines and the portrait of perfect lovers possessing all the qualities required by the courtly code were unnatural. Ultimately, Chauctecler rejects the "courtly code and mask" that governed his previous behavior…
Gleason, Mark J.
A. J. Minnis, ed. The Medieval Boethius (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1987), pp. 89-105.
Gleason addresses three misunderstandings: disparagement of the literary value of Bo and its sources; inaccurate evaluation of Chaucer's use of sources, especially Trevet; and lack of information about Trevet's commentary, which is significant in…
Machan, Tim William.
A. J. Minnis, ed. The Medieval Boethius (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1987), pp. 125-38 .
The glosses accompanying the Bo manuscripts vary in number and style, but the abundance of glosses, some shared, reveals that Bo was read with "interest throughout the fifteenth century."
