Wallace, David.
Studies in the Age of Chaucer 19 (1997): 63-91.
Summarizes the political, economic, and social aspects of late-medieval Flanders and evokes a sense of English attitudes toward them. Chaucer's references and allusions to Flanders and Flemings in GP, Th, ShT, PardT, and CT anticipate the more…
Wheeler, Jeffrey Matthew.
Dissertation Abstracts International 57 (1997): 3043A
Although false relics often figured in polemics, relics were popular through the early Reformation. Attitudes vary less than has been assumed among such writers as Guibert de Nogent, Lorenzo Valla, Wycliffe, Chaucer, Foxe, Latimer, Tyndale, and…
Barker, David Stephen.
Dissertation Abstracts International 58 (1997): 2199A.
Law and its applications influence literary audiences, and Chaucer exploits the possibilties variously. In KnT, trial by combat fails to effect closure; Theseus must intervene. Melibee's final verdict acts similarly in Mel. In SumT, however, the…
David, Alfred.
Thomas Hahn and Alan Lupack, eds. Retelling Tales: Essays in Honor of Russell Peck (Woodbridge, Suffolk; and Rochester, N.Y.: D. S. Brewer, 1997.), pp. 61-72.
A consideration of the four "Adams" in CT (MkT, Mel, MerT, NPT) clarifies Chaucer's continuously revised sense of the allusive potential of the biblical figure, as well as the changing, expansive meaning within the various "Tales."
Fichte, Joerg O.
Trude Ehlert, ed. Zeitkonzeptionen Zeiterfahrung Zeitmessung: Stationen ihres Wandels vom Mittelalter bis zum Moderne (Paderborn: Ferdinand Schoningh, 1997), pp. 223-41.
Assesses time and its relations with history and eschatology in CT, exploring how genre and variations in genre affect the depiction of time. Examines KnT and Th as romances, SNT and MLT as saints' lives, PhyT and MkT as exempla, and ShT as a…
Gallacher, Patrick J.
Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Teaching 5:1 (1997): 55-62.
Considers relations among fairness, generosity, and justice as depicted in MilT, ClT, and PardT, discussing them as they might be presented to an audience of high school students.
Guidry, Marc S.
Dissertation Abstracts International 58 (1997): 2224A.
As diplomat, MP, and associate of important political figures, Chaucer understood the operation of government and its rhetoric, reflected in Mel, MLT, ClT, KnT, and MerT. Chaucer's themes of class and gender relate to the nature of counsel-taking.
Chaucerian pathos derives from the rigidity of fourteenth-century social hierarchies. In KnT, pity brings the ruler and ruled closer together; ClT advocates Christ-like endurance and humility for the weak and God-like justice and mercy for the…
Holsinger, Bruce Wood.
Dissertation Abstracts International 57 (1997): 3928A.
Patristic tradition regarded music as both carnal and spirtual, capable of evoking a gamut of emotions. Diatribes against musical innovation parallel those against unconventional sexual practices. Holsinger considers musical imagery in KnT, MilT,…
Lee, Dongchoon.
Dissertation Abstracts International 58 (1997): 858A.
Contrasts Chaucer's storytelling techniques in KnT, MilT, PardT, WBT, MLT, and MerT with those of their sources, contemporary writings, and folk traditions. Uses the approaches of Propp, Bal, Bakhtin, and Frye.
Pearsall, Derek.
A. J. Minnis, Charlotte C. Morse, and Thorlac Turville-Petre, eds. Essays on Ricardian Literature: In Honour of J. A. Burrow (Oxford: Clarendon, 1997), pp. 23-38.
Addresses issues of the order of CT and, following the discussion of Charles A. Owen, Jr. (1977), argues that ParsT was once intended to complete the work. However, Chaucer revised his plan when he "evolved a new and impossibly grandiose scheme for…
Ramirez Arlandi, Juan.
Margarita Gimenez Bon and Vickie Olsen, eds. Proceedings of the 9th International Conference of the Spanish Society for Medieval Language and Literature. (Vitoria-Gasteiz: Dpto. Filologia Inglesa, 1997): pp. 247-52.
Investigates varying presentations of marriage in the Marriage Group of CT, concluding that the "true idea of marriage is the result of combining the features that different characters exhibit."
Sola Buil, Ricardo J.
Margarita Gimenez Bon and Vickie Olsen, eds. Proceedings of the 9th International Conference of the Spanish Society for Medieval Language and Literature (Vitoria-Gasteiz: Dpto. Filologia Inglesa, 1997), pp. 338-45.
Explores Chaucer's use of parody and manipulation of narrative tradition to develop realistic characters or "subjectivities" in CT.
Vila de la Cruz, Maria Purificacion.
Margarita Gimenez Bon and Vickie Olsen, eds. Proceedings of the 9th International Conference of the Spanish Society for Medieval Language and Literature (Vitoria-Gasteiz: Dpto. Filologia Inglesa, 1997), pp. 275-84.
Discusses the women in CT as emotional and intellectual reflections of male characters.
Watts, William H.
Hugo Keiper, Richard J. Utz, and Cristoph Bode, eds. Nominalism and Literary Discourse: New Perspectives (Amsterdam and Atlanta: Rodopi, 1997), pp. 145-55,
Discusses the problematic nature of relating late-medieval nominalism to Chaucer's literary texts. Chaucer's representation of philosophizing clerks suggests that he took a dim view of such figures of contemporary life, whom he tended to portray as…
Fradenburg, Louise O.
Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies 27 (1997): 47-75.
The logic of sacrifice (in particular, the sacrifice of the subject, Arcite) that permeates KnT produces a "jouissance," which the discourse of charity attempts to disguise.
Greenwood, M. K. Smolenska.
Guy Bourquin, ed. Hier et aujourd'hui: Points de vue sur le moyen age anglais (Nancy: Association des Medievistes Anglicistes de l'Enseignement Superieur, 1997),: pp. 45-55.
KnT creates puzzling effects. Chaucer's subversion of several issues (genre, nobility, love, wisdom) highlights their absurdity.
Jungman, Robert E.
Explicator 55:4 (1997): 190-92.
KnT 2681-82 do not (as Wolfgang Rudat supposed) echo Virgil's "Aeneid" 4.569-79 but instead adapt Juvenal's "Tenth Satire" 72-73 to identify Emily with changeable fortune.
Pearcy's structural approach enables us to recognize the generic markers of fabliau in nonfabliau tales by identifying dupers, dupes, and misinterpretations of signs. Two episodes in KnT reflect fabliau structures: Arcite's reading of Palamon's…
Burger, Glenn.
Jeffrey Cohen and Bonnie Wheeler, eds. Becoming Male in the Middle Ages (New York and London: Garland, 1997), pp. 480-99.
MilT reproduces the "sadism" of KnT in its assertion of heteronormativity but simultaneously resists this sadism. In the bedroom-window scene, gender is loosened and "queered," enabling readers to escape from the hegemony of masculinist and…
Applying A. J. Greimas's systems to MilT leaves Alison in the role of passive object. Claude Bremond's model discloses a more active Alison as she learns about seduction and dissimulation, which are overvalued in the world of MilT.
