Minnis, A. J.
A. J. Minnis, ed. The Medieval Boethius (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1987), pp. 106-24.
Translation and glossing were two aspects of the single activity of revealing meaning ("expositio sententiae"), a concern of Chaucer in SNT and TC. In Bo, Chaucer consulted Jean de Meun's and Trevet's translations, but these cannot explain certain…
The narrator of BD serves a therapeutic role: he helps the Black Knight talk out his grief and in the process purges himself of his own sorrow. In light of recent psychological studies, Chaucer's insights into bereavement are astute. BD warns…
Johnson, Ian.
A. J. Minnis, ed. The Medieval Boethius (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1987), pp. 139-68.
In bk. 3, met. 12, of his popular English translation of Boethius, John Walton behaves like a poet-commentator, striving for a contemporary eloquence while drawing on the authority of commentary tradition. In his preface, assuming the role of a…
Covers 88 verse romances, including "Gamelyn," and 20 prose romances; equipped with an author index and preceded by general studies--definition, genre, Alexander romances, alliterative poetry, Arthurian literature, Breton lay, chivalry, convention,…
In his "Teatro d'huomini letterati" (1647), Gerolamo Ghilini includes a sketch of Chaucer's life and works based on John Pits's "Relationem historicarum de rebus anglicis" (Paris, 1619). Errors and omissions demonstrate that Ghilini depended wholly…
Garbaty, Thomas J.
John V. Fleming and Thomas J. Heffernan, eds. Studies in the Age of Chaucer, Proceedings, No. 2, 1986. (Knoxville, Tenn.: New Chaucer Society, 1987): pp. 95-102.
Chaucer needs no protection from students who question the more negative aspects of his life. Though Chaucer was "no saint," his life is devoid of anything particularly shameful. The Hainault connection simply gave Chaucer leisure and security…
Rowland, Beryl.
John V. Fleming and Thomas J. Heffernan, eds. Studies in the Age of Chaucer, Proceedings, No. 2, 1986. (Knoxville, Tenn.: New Chaucer Society, 1987): pp. 3-14.
Rowland reviews Chaucer biography, noting the reluctance of most SAC contributors to explore Chaucer's life and their interest in his "mentality." Recent biography leaves a number of unresolved problems, difficulties, and mysteries in Chaucer's…
Benson, Larry D., gen. ed.
Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 1987.
A compilation by thirty-three Chaucerians (based on "The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer," edited by F. N. Robinson [2d ed., 1957]), this new edition updates, expands, and revises its predecessor while generally preserving its sequence. Entirely rewritten…
Boyd, Beverly, ed.
Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1987.
Relying on Hengwrt as the basic text, Boyd--in the manner of all editors in this variorum series--surveys both manuscripts and printed editions, emending in light of both. The introduction provides critical and textual commentaries, the former…
Corsa, Helen Storm, ed.
Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1987.
Following the guidelines of the general editors, Paul G. Ruggiers, Donald C. Baker, and Daniel J. Ransom, Corsa provides "collations of those manuscripts which have attracted commentary" and "readings from the principle printed editions that have…
Dor, Juliette, trans.
Michel Dupuis and Pierre Maury, eds. Les 20 meilleures nouvelles de la litterature mondiale. (Alleur, Belgium: Marabout, 1987): pp. 27-39.
Ichikawa, Sanki,and Tamotsu Matsunami,trans. and eds.
Tokyo: Kenkyusha, 1987.
Revised edition of the late Ichikawa's introduction to Chaucer's English (reprinted many times since 1934), with text on the left side and it pronunciation in IPA notation on the facing page with a Modern English prose translation underneath. Notes…
McMillan, Ann, trans.
Houston: Rice University Press, 1987.
Literal Modern English translation with introduction (pp. 3-62) treating the catalogue tradition, classical heroines, Jerome, Boccaccio, Christine de Pisan, LGW, LGWP, and the victims.
Cowen, Janet M.
Derek Pearsall, ed. Manuscripts and Texts (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1987), pp. 26-33.
In editing Chaucer, the problem of the final "-e" can be resolved "in a conservative edition by retaining the spelling of the base manuscript and in a modernised edition by regularising it." Cowen and George Kane, editors of LGW (in progress), treat…
Hanna, Ralph,III.
Derek Pearsall, ed. Manuscripts and Texts (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1987), pp. 87-94.
The grounds for "best-text" editing are uncertain. In following a "best-text," an editor may seek to "place the modern audience in the position" of the Ur-audience. Hanna questions Hengwrt as basis for "best text" and Manly-Rickert's method of…
Kane, George.
John V. Fleming and Thomas J. Heffernan, eds. Studies in the Age of Chaucer, Proceedings, No. 2, 1986. (Knoxville, Tenn.: New Chaucer Society, 1987): pp. 137-45.
Discusses problems in various medieval manuscripts and criteria for editorial judgments, applying them to the CUL Gg.4.21 text of LGW and to the Hengwrt and Ellesmere CT. The conditions for "analysis of describable physical data" are favorable for…
Morse, Charlotte C.
Derek Pearsall, ed. Manuscripts and Texts (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1987), pp. 122-29.
Reviews the development of CT editing from 1960 onward. The "Variorum is designed to control and reassess secondary literature and to test Manly-Rickert (very reliable). Rejects Manly-Rickert's theory of early versions of CT and ClT. Reviews…
