Olson, Glending.
David Wallace, ed. The Cambridge History of Medieval English Literature (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999), pp. 566-88
Surveys Chaucer's life and art in light of their cultural contexts, commenting on his status as a court poet, the nature of his audience, his self-consciousness and uses of contemporary literary forms, his relations to his contemporaries, and his…
Crepin, Andre.
Premieres mutations: De Petrarque a Chaucer, 1304-1400.
The 12-volume "Patrimoine litteraire europeen" surveys major European authors and works from the early roots of European literature to the present, providing for each an introduction, a short bibliography, and extracts in French translation--some…
Twenty previously published essays, in English or German, and a bibliography (447-69) arranged by individual work. The volume opens with Erzgräber's "Chaucer-Forschung im 20. Jahrhundert: Einleitung" (pp. 1-31), an introduction to the essays…
Bloom, Harold, ed.
New York: Chelsea, 1985. Reissued in 1987.
Nine previously published essays or exerpts. Topics include Chaucer's "greatness" (G. K. Chesterton), the ending of TC (E. Talbot Donaldson), the impact of MerT (E. Talbot Donaldson), Wife of Bath as narrator (David Parker), Chaucer in the…
Sees Chaucer's world in the midst of change from feudalism to mercantilism. Threats to society represented by dream visions must yet be integrated into the rational structure. The CT pilgrimage is a Peasant's Revolt in reverse. Knight takes a…
Richmond, Velma Bourgeois.
New York: Continuum, 1992.
Biographical review; consideration of the fourteenth-century cultural context; and critical discussion of all of Chaucer's works. Half of the chapters are devoted to the CT, divided by subject and tone into secular romances, fabliaux, religious…
In TC, Chaucer uses not only sophisticated, upper-class materials but also lower-class matter that has "moved 'upward' into the most prestigious and learned layers of medieval discourse." This "gentrification" can best be seen in Chaucer's use of…
Folks, Cathalin Buhrmann.
Eilean Ni Cuilleanain and J.D. Pheifer, eds. Noble and Joyous Histories: English Romances, 1375-1650 (Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 1993), pp. 59-85.
The "Gawain" poet and Chaucer (through the mediating Wife of Bath) modify conventional details of character, description, and action, producing protagonists who develop or who come to self-awareness in ways more complicated than elsewhere in the…
Boitani, Piero, and Anna Torti, eds.
Tubingen: Gunter Narr Verlag, 1988.
Fourteen articles by various hands. For five essays that pertain to Chaucer, search for Genres, Themes, and Images in English Literature from the Fourteenth to the Fifteenth Century under Alternative Title.
Stroud, Theodore A.
Modern Philology 72 (1974): 60-70.
Reviews two books about Chaucer: "Language of Chaucer's Poetry: An Appraisal of Verse, Style and Structure" by Norman E. Eliason; and "Disembodied Laughter: 'Troilus' and the Apotheosis Tradition" by John M. Steadman.
Pakkala-Weckstrom, Mari.
Karind Aijmer and Britta Olinder, eds. Proceedings from the 8th Nordic Conference on English Studies (Goteborg: Goteborg University Department of English, 2003), pp. 121-36.
Pakkala-Weckstrom applies linguistic "politeness theory" to the use of pronouns as "forms of address in male/female dialogue" in MilT, MerT, ShT, ClT, Mel, WBT, and FranT. Usage is similar in the romances and religious tales but differs in the…
Despite the difficulties of comparing literature cross-culturally, CT and the "Heike Monogatari" are similar in their "middle" styles, their adaptability to parody, and their capacious allusions to "native and foreign literary studies."
Ferster, Judith.
Corinne Saunders, ed. A Concise Companion to Chaucer (Malden, Mass.; Oxford; and Victoria: Blackwell, 2006), pp. 179-98.
Ferster explores the importance of genre for understanding CT, a collection of different genres. Discusses how Chaucer stretches, plays with, and interrogates genre by combining features of genre and the expectations they create. Concentrates on the…
Patterson, Lee.
Lee Patterson. Acts of Recognition: Essays on Medieval Culture (Notre Dame, Id.: University of Notre Dame Press, 2010), pp. 198-214.
Considers Chaucer's understanding of "tragedy" in Bo, MkT, and TC, tracing this understanding to Dante's use of the term in his "Inferno," where it is affiliated with history. In TC, Chaucer chose to emulate Boccaccio's "Filostrato" because doing so…
Kowalik, Barbara.
Maria Edelson, ed. Studies in Literature and Culture in Honour of Professor Irena Janicka-Świderska Łódź: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego, 2002), pp. 100-110.
Increased concern with female characters in KnT distinguishes it from traditional epics, and its presentation of women and gender relationships embodies "evolutionary changes" in the romance genre. Nonetheless, Emily is imprisoned at the end "in yet…
Dane, Joseph A.
Huntington Library Quarterly 48 (1985): 345-62.
A double reception was given Th in the eighteenth century. Dane agrees with Warton that Th is not a "grave heroic narrative" but a humorous tale. The burlesque Th is an eighteenth-century creation. Treats genre of Th and SqT and twentieth-century…
Cooper, Helen.
Piero Boitani and Anna Torti, eds. Poetics: Theory and Practice in Medieval English Literature (Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk: D. S. Brewer, 1991), pp. 83-103.
Examines the equation of political and poetic authority in the works of Chaucer and his contemporaries. Historical romance tends to legitimize political authority and to cite poetic authority, while the fabliau pretends to chronicle true occurences…
Andrejević, Ana M.
Proceedings of the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Pristina 42.1 (2012): 405-15.
Zbornik Radova Filozofskog Fakulteta, Univerzitet u Prištini 42.1 (2012): 405-15.
Indicates Chaucer's mixture of genres in CT, and assesses the "inversion of normative genres and usage of multigeneric construction" in NPT to convey significant themes and in ManT to pose a disturbing "pseudo-moral." Includes an abstract in Serbian.
Mack, Peter, and Chris Walton, eds.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.
Textbook edition of GP. Includes glosses and discursive notes (at the back of the book) and discussion of approaches to the text: sources and analogues, characterization, assessment of theme and topic, and analysis of poetic technique. Also includes…
French, W. H.
Modern Language Notes 76 (1961): 293-95.
Supports the reading of "hors" as plural in GP 1.74 on the grounds that "goode" in the same line is a plural form that "determines the number of the entire construction."
Textbook edition of GP with end-of-text notes, glossary, and dictionary of proper names, accompanied by an Introduction that addresses the role of GP in CT, as well as its art and "Inheritance." Also includes several appendixes: "The Poet and His…
