Browse Items (16470 total)

Opens a discussion of Harlan Ellison's uses of a "speaking voice" in his fiction by commenting on Chaucer's multiple narrative voices and the depiction of "Chaucer reading aloud" in the Troilus frontispiece (Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 61).

John Hardyng borrows TC III.617 for his verse "Chronicle."

In MkP, the Host associates the Monk with a sacristan or cellarer. Norsworthy surveys historical cellarers and the role of the cellarer according to the Rule of St. Benedict, connecting bad cellarers with MkT. The Monk's narratives pertain to tyrants…

Briefly surveys the practice of concordance making and assesses the limitations of Tatlock and Kennedy's concordance to Chaucer (1927) and Oizumi's computer-assisted but conventionally printed one (1991). Some of the limitations of traditional…

Although the Hengwrt and Ellesmere manuscripts were both copied by "Scribe B," their differences indicate how a variety of factors affect textual transmission.

Argues that Chaucer "contextualizes virtues through narrative." Provides close study of Chaucer's treatment of virtues and ethics in CT and TC.

Eighteen essays by various authors, addressing topics such as confession, medicine, chaste marriage, contraception, homosexuality, lesbianism, cross-dressing, prostitution, castration, and various cultural studies: Jewish, Muslim, Eastern Orthodox,…

Describes the history, procedures, and practices of editing volumes for the Chaucer Library which was created in 1945. Comments on how to select texts, editorial responsibilities, and preparation of typescripts. An appendix provides four pages of…

References to "Lameth" in WBT and SqT comprise links in a sturdy chain connecting the tragic actions of Shakespeare's prince of Denmark to Lamech, a "(pseudo-)biblical figure associated with murder, rage, and vengeance."

Considers the anonymous executioner and the three strokes required to execute Cecilia in SNT.

Assesses the inclusion of information from the GP description of the Knight in Richard Hakluyt's "The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation," where Hakluyt presents Chaucer's fiction "as a genuine historical…

Chaucer "organized his hagiographic play around the 'distinctiones', or normative arrays, giving and revenge, which are exemplified in the narrative clusters derivative of the hagiographics and the dramatic treatment of St. Nicholas and Absalom."

McTurk argues that "Laxdaela Saga" is an analogue to WBPT, although the two derive independently from the Irish tale of the Loathly Lady.

Considers the Pardoner in PardT as an "exemplary figure" of what Walter Benjamin argues is a defining trait of modernity: the eclipse of religion's sacralizing capacities by capitalism, which, like the Pardoner's sales pitch, intensifies guilt rather…

Explores the "sense of guilt and uncertainty about the value of creative literature" in Chaucer's works, particularly as it generates "expansive, questioning poetics" in HF and "problematises the principle of allegory" in the final fragments of CT,…

Text and translation with introduction, notes, and bibliography, including comparative studies of Chaucer and Machaut. Influences on BD, LGW, TC.

A guide to secondary sources on Machaut's life, music, and literature, plus his influence on later traditions. The general index enables users to track discussions of Machaut's influence on Chaucer, both generally and with reference to individual…

Chaucer uses the conventions of Machaut in BD to undermine them, demonstrating to his English readers that the French poetic tradition was two-dimensional, "narrow in scope and appeal, read primarily for diversion and reflection."

Machaut provides the nearest precedents, the most probable chief sources, for all of Chaucer's independent love lyrics printed in Robinson except "The Complaint of Venus," wherein Chaucer follows Graunson, and "A Balade of Complaint," most probably…

In TC, Chaucer gave his Boccaccio material greater depth and emotional significances by borrowing from Machaut. His presentation of the psychological effects of Troilus' passion echoes "Jugement dou Roy de Behaingne." Pandarus' wisdom is often that…

Chaucer's tale of Hypsipyle and Medea (LGW 4) shares verbal features with the "Gest Historyale of the Destruction of Troy" and the "Laud Troy Book." Not derived from one another, they may go back to an earlier Middle English translation.

Suggests how Chaucer may have become familiar with the work of Guido Cavalcanti, and argues that TC records philosophical and poetical perspectives and several poetic devices that are similar to those found in Cavalcanti's "Donna me prega."

Articulates the principles of manuscript transcription for the "Canterbury Tales" Project, theorizing about the potential and limitations of transcribing for machine-readable publication and explaining why "graphemic" transcription (rather than…

Surveys English literature and critical responses to this literature; designed for classroom use. Summarizes historical backgrounds and provides annotated bibliographies, linked with the discussions of individual works, authors, and topics, including…

Traces a tradition of nonsense and humor in English psychedelic rock music, mentioning Chaucer's influence (specifically NPT as a mock epic) and a few allusions to Chaucer in the lyrics of psychedelic songs.