Clogan, Paul M.
Hugh T. Keenan, ed. Typology and English Medieval Literature (New York: AMS, 1992), pp. 168.
Building on medieval conventions in which the city was a metaphor for the human condition, Thebes--known for fratricide and civil war--symbolizes disorder and chaos. Theseus, especially through his subjugation of the queen of the lawless and violent…
Besserman, Lawrence [L.]
Hugh T. Keenan, ed. Typology and English Medieval Literature (New York: AMS, 1992), pp. 183-205.
Chaucer uses biblical exegesis and typology for thematic purposes. In ClT, Griselda is portrayed as "pharmakos," a "figura Christi," through Chaucer's addition of biblical colorings and the typological juxtaposition of her character and actions with…
Morse, Charlotte C.
Hugh T. Keenan, ed. Typology and English Medieval Literature (New York: AMS, 1992), pp. 141-48.
In terms of medieval Christian thought, wherein conversion to Christianity was viewed as gradual rather than instant, the life of Griselda typologically represents the Christian soul, though Chaucer may not consciously have connected the two while…
Shoaf, R[ichard] A[llen].
Hugh T. Keenan, ed. Typology and English Medieval Literature (New York: AMS, 1992), pp. 149-68.
Repeated imagery of falconry's mew, derived from typology and folklore, symbolize the poem's vision of mutability in human affairs. Especially as they relate to the character of Troilus, these images represent the Neo-Platonic notion of the soul as…
DuVal, John, trans. Intro. and notes by Raymond Eichmann.
Binghamton, N.Y.: Medieval and Renaissance Texts & Studies, 1992.
An anthology of twenty French fabliaux, translated into English verse. Includes historical introduction, brief headnotes to each tale, and a selective bibliography of fabliau materials.
Despite critical efforts to prove that the trip to Canterbury was a four-day journey, the geographical and temporal inconsistencies within the CT defy this kind of realism. Instead, the journey took place on one "anagogical day"--April 18, 1394. …
Ellis, Roger.
Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester 74 (1992): 121-39.
Examines the "voices" of the narrators of SNT, MerT, and WBP. In understanding voices, it is important to remember two levels: the immediate and the inherited past. The three tales exhibit plain speaking in different ways.
Emmerson, Richard K., and Ronald B. Herzman.
Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1992.
Examining Joachim of Fiore, Bonaventure's Legenda Maior, Roman de la rose, Dante's Commedia, and CT, Emmerson and Herzman argue that, in eschatological perspective, CT exemplifies typical medieval apocalyptic thought. The general structure,…
Dor, Juliette, ed.
Liege: Universite de Liege, 1992.
A collection of twenty-six essays, fourteen of which address Chaucer and his works. Includes papers presented at a 1990 conference at the University of Liege marking the retirement of Paule Mertens-Fonck. Each essay addresses women's issues in…
Brewer, Derek.
Juliette Dor, ed. A Wyf Ther Was: Essays in Honour of Paule Mertens-Fonck (Liege: University of Liege, 1992), pp. 30-40.
In Chaucer's works, the wide spectrum of Venus's portrayals, from mythographical Venus to planetary Venus, represents "some profound human problems in the relations of men and women" and contributes "significantly to the rich variety" with which…
Haas, Renate.
Juliette Dor, ed. A Wyf Ther Was: Essays in Honour of Paule Mertens-Fonck (Liege: University of Liege, 1992), pp. 178-92.
Early dissertations on Chaucer by women illustrate the limitations faced by early female academics. Critical neglect of Maria Koellreutter's 1908 dissertation on Chaucer suggests little recent social progress.
Martin, Priscilla.
Juliette Dor, ed. A Wyf Ther Was: Essays in Honour of Paule Mertens-Fonck (Liege: University of Liege, 1992), pp. 235-46.
Martin defends the "eclectic approach" she adopted in her book, "Chaucer's Women: Nuns, Wives, and Amazons" (University of Iowa Press, 1990), a critical posture that borrows from a variety of critical approaches.
Frese, Dolores Warwick.
Juliette Dor, ed. A Wyf Ther Was: Essays in Honour of Paule Mertens-Fonck (Liege: University of Liege, 1992), pp. 155-66.
The tradition of involucrum explains the Second Nun's preoccupation with the name Cecilie, associates the Prioress and the Monk with Abelard, associates the Wife of Bath with Bathsheba, and relates the Clerk's references to Petrarch and "Poo" to…
Haskell, Ann (S.)
Juliette Dor, ed. A Wyf Ther Was: Essays in Honour of Paule Mertens-Fonck (Liege: University of Liege, 1992), pp. 193-98.
The walled-garden images in KnT, MerT, the GP sketch of the Prioress, WBT, FrT, and BD illustrate that walls not only provide safety but also exclude women from the knowledge needed to progress from virginity to motherhood and to "wise womanhood." …
Wood, Chauncey.
Juliette Dor, ed. A Wyf Ther Was: Essays in Honour of Paule Mertens-Fonck (Liege: University of Liege, 1992), pp. 282-90.
The Wife of Bath's preference for experience, marriage, and governance contrasts with the displays of innocence, chastity, and submissiveness by the Prioress and Second Nun. The triumphs of the Wife and of the "lusty bacheler" are losses, while "the…
Dor, Juliette.
Juliette Dor, ed. A Wyf Ther Was: Essays in Honour of Paule Mertens-Fonck (Liege: University of Liege, 1992), pp. 129-40.
Mikhail Bakhtin's notion of polyphony illuminates MLH, MLP, and MLT, in which Custance's religious voice contrasts with the Man of Law's many ambivalent voices, including his "rhetorical, epic, and legal registers." While Custance is a stock figure,…
Wimsatt, James I.
Juliette Dor, ed. A Wyf Ther Was: Essays in Honour of Paule Mertens-Fonck (Liege: University of Liege, 1992), pp. 275-81.
The Wife of Bath's argument against Jerome's stance on virginity resembles Jerome's argument against Jovinian; Dorigen in FranT contemplates suicide, recommended by Jerome over the loss of chastity. Chaucer's use of Jerome illustrates Bakhtinian…
Kooper, Erik.
Juliette Dor, ed. A Wyf Ther Was: Essays in Honour of Paule Mertens-Fonck (Liege: University of Liege, 1992), pp. 209-18.
"Stone" is an allegorical figure of Christ in both the Old and New Testaments, illuminating the three kinds of stones in SNT and CYT: "those of the pagans, of the alchemists and of the Christians." Chaucer presents the "extremities of human faith"…
Allen, Valerie.
Juliette Dor, ed. A Wyf Ther Was: Essays in Honour of Paule Mertens-Fonck (Liege: University of Liege, 1992), pp. 23-29.
Blaunche's description in BD centers on her eyes, whereas Alisoun's in MilT centers on her bottom. These descriptions show the relationship between each character's essential and physical selves, suggesting that both characters "locate their virtue…
Crepin, Andre.
Juliette Dor, ed. A Wyf Ther Was: Essays in Honour of Paule Mertens-Fonck (Liege: University of Liege, 1992), pp. 71-79.
Attitudes toward earthly and heavenly love in Chaucer's TC and Gower's Confessio Amantis, Chaucer's and Gower's references to each other, and the presence of phrasal similarities in the two works suggest that Chaucer's ending to TC "is to be…
Dinshaw, Carolyn.
Juliette Dor, ed. A Wyf Ther Was: Essays in Honour of Paule Mertens-Fonck (Liege: University of Liege, 1992), pp. 112-22.
The persistent and untrue story of a "quarrel" between Gower and Chaucer can be explained by the notion of rape. Gower's use of the Philomela legend in Confessio Amantis and Chaucer's use of it in TC suggest that in their "interaction with one…
Greenwood, Maria K.
Juliette Dor, ed. A Wyf Ther Was: Essays in Honour of Paule Mertens-Fonck (Liege: University of Liege, 1992), pp. 167-77.
Chaucer's Criseyde in TC and Malory's Elaine and Guenivere in Morte d'Arthur are "modern" in their struggles. Each author illuminates his "diogesis" by narrative use(s) of the heroine(s); both authors "counter reductive views" by providing…
Takamiya, Toshiyuki, and Richard Beadle, eds.
Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1992.
A festschrift for the sixtieth birthday of Ando, with six essays on Chaucer, seven on Shakespeare, and other essays on medieval and Renaissance topics. For essays that pertain to Chaucer, search for Chaucer to Shakespeare under Alternative Title.
