Browse Items (16472 total)

Nakley uses postcolonial theory to consider a Chaucerian dialogue with ideas of "nationhood," examining GP, KnT, WBP, WBT, and MLT en route to arguing that CT presents England as nation, "community," and "homeland."

The "temporal disorder" and "internationalism" of MLT--combined with its examination of competing familial and institutional loyalty--depict sovereignty as a redemptive governmental form capable of healing the ills of late medieval England, including…

Establishes how WBT's treatment of sovereignty and of civic and domestic institutions "redefine[s] English nobility as a national form of identity" that crosses class and gender boundaries. Further argues that Chaucer's anachronistic use of Dante in…

Examines the views that accept Chaucer's nationalism as a given and those that focus on his international or European identity and vision. Draws on concepts of sovereignty and domesticity appearing "primarily in romantic and household contexts," and…

Argues that ClP "confronts the social politics of translation and accessibility" after which the "re-vernacularization" in ClT "progresses . . . toward class and gender accessibility," "addresses the politics of tyranny and class," and engages issues…

Explores how "blame" links politics and literature in late medieval England, arguing that CT (especially MilP and Ret) "democratizes narrative authority and erodes authorial intention by redistributing doubt and confidence through blame," thereby…

Explores the theme of knightly and royal pity (and related concepts, such as mercy, compassion, and resulting actions) in literary representations of war in a range of late medieval English texts, with particular attention to the Alliterative "Morte…

Analyzes "the literary and musical tools used by Ralph Vaughan Williams to aid in an informed performance" of songs composed by Vaughan to various texts; includes discussion of MercB, accompanied by musical score and commentary.

Considers the philosophical ramifications of understanding music, particularly as evidenced in BD, HF, PF, and ManT.

Seventeen previously published essays and excerpts, accompanied by an introduction, a biography, a chronology, and a brief bibliography intended for student use. Contributors include Donald Howard (on structure and on social rank), Glending Olson (on…

"The Siege of Jerusalem" is not simply another anti-Semitic text but instead one that responds humanely to the Jewish plight. Evidence indicates that this poem was written by an Augustinian canon at Bolton Priory, were there was regard for the…

Studies "virtual" narratives in FranT. Compares FranT to earlier lais of Marie de France and "Sir Orfeo." Suggests that Chaucer's "unrealized possibilities" mark a moment in the history of genre development when medieval lais begin to resemble modern…

Treats "the operations and qualities of fictional minds" in ClT, "as well as the narrative means through which they are conveyed," examining Griselda, Walter, and the "group consciousness" of the Saluzzan people in light of "modern cognitive…

Chaucer's NPT tests the limits of the fable tradition. Containing two complete fables--one from the first half (ending with the cock's downfall and capture) and another from the second (don't open your mouth)--the "Tale" combines to form a third…

Includes discussion of TC, arguing that the "ironies and games" in the poem "show how closely amorous pursuits may tread to modern conceptions of rape" and depict courtship as a "zero sum game in which each winning move is a loss."

Unlike earlier versions of the Troilus story, Boccaccio's "Filostrato" minimizes war and focuses on love. Yet, if Troilus is less epic and more verbally effusive than his predecessors, he still is not tragic. Boccaccio identifies with Troiolo early…

Records Chaucer's consistent and conventional usage of "ye" and "thou" in FrT, showing how it achieves "irony and humor." Attends to manuscript variants and opines that "that the English language lost something by the abandonment of the singular form…

Six pamphlets in a slip-folder, each individually paginated, and each summarizing the linguistic conditions and features of a work of English literature and offering pedagogical exercises in understanding the place of the work in linguistic history.…

Reinforces suggestions that the Black Knight's age at BD 455 should be emended to "nine and twenty yer" to coincide with the age of John of Gaunt at Blanche's death, justifiable because of evidence that twenty-nine years was considered to be young in…

Analyzes the grotesque Bahktinian realism of inversions and bodily functions in medieval narratives; includes comments on the "prayer-belch" and farting in SumT and on ass-kissing and farting in MilT, compared and contrasted with analogous materials.

First-person novel with several possible allusions to Chaucer's Harry Bailey, the Wife of Bath, and perhaps others.

Examines frames of cultural reference (legal, domestic, physical, and literary--especially romance), arguing that "two versions of masculinity defined the socially performed lives of men in late medieval England." The first version was normative and…

The narrator, Alcyone, and the Black Knight suffer from melancholy. Brain functions and anatomy, progress, and treatment of the illness are linked chronologically, and the time shifts are analogous to the order and process of brain physiology as…

Describes the problems and rewards of teaching Chaucer to Orthodox Jewish women.

Calls into question subject-oriented readings; proposes reading of PF as process and act. The narrator is an element of his own fiction. Refers to Chaucer's model, Graunson's "Songe Sainct Valentin."