Medieval vernacular literature, which inherits and deeply re-elaborates themes and modes of Latin culture, is at the origin of "European" literary production. Italy followed soon after France in establishing a vernacular literary tradition, anchored…
Traces the meanings and nuances of "discrecioun" (moral and rational judgment) in classical and medieval traditions, examining Chaucer's uses of the word and its thematic implications across his career as a poet. Includes references to most of his…
Barr, Helen.
Bonnie Lander-Johnson and Eleanor Decamp, eds. Blood Matters: Studies in European Literature and Thought, 1400-1700 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018), pp. 238-48.
Describes the iconography of Thomas Becket's blood in Canterbury Cathedral and its "Christomimetic" associations, and explores parallels between Becket's blood and the Pardoner's blood in the "Canterbury Interlude" that precedes the "Tale of Beryn,"…
Jost, Jean (E.)
Bonnie Wheeler, ed. Feminea Medievalia I: Representations of the Feminine in the Middle Ages (Cambridge: Academia Press, 1993), pp. 117-38.
Not acknowledged or accounted for, feminine desire is a powerful force in the plot of MerT. Because January ignores May's sexual desires, he involuntarily provokes her to pursue a more appropriate mate. May takes what January proffers--his money…
Goyne, Jo.
Bonnie Wheeler, ed. Feminea Medievalia I: Representations of the Feminine in the Middle Ages (Cambridge: Academia Press, 1993), pp. 139-60.
Explores the limitations and parameters of word and will in ClT. Chaucer asserts that words must not encumber the will beyond its limited capacity, even in the service of virtue.
Everhart, Deborah.
Bonnie Wheeler, ed. Feminea Medievalia I: Representations of the Feminine in the Middle Ages (Cambridge: Academia Press, 1993), pp. 23-42.
Uses Heidegger's language concerning the "concealing" and "unconcealing" of truth to examine the narrative layers through which readers interpret Criseyde's character. Criseyde's speeches subtly but forcefully unconceal her own "trouthe," raising…
Stallcup, Stephen.
Bonnie Wheeler, ed. Feminea Medievalia I: Representations of the Feminine in the Middle Ages (Cambridge: Academia Press, 1993), pp. 43-68.
Examines Anelida's complaint in relation to the genre of amatory complaint, considering the role of gender in the genre. Anelida reclaims lyric space for herself by reworking the courtly, traditionally masculine form, balancing the illogic of…
Goodman, Jennifer [R.]
Bonnie Wheeler, ed. Feminea Medievalia I: Representations of the Feminine in the Middle Ages (Cambridge: Academia Press, 1993), pp. 69-90.
The desperation of the falcon in SqT and that of Dorigen in FranT link the two tales. Similar links include three sets of parallel relationships between older and younger men, as well as the notions of "trouthe" and fortitude in each tale's ending.
Wheeler, Bonnie.
Bonnie Wheeler, ed. Feminea Medievalia I: Representations of the Feminine in the Middle Ages (Cambridge: Academia Press, 1993), pp. 91-116.
Chaucer situates Dorigen, who is bound to contradictory roles as faithful wife and courtly mistress, within contradictory rhetorical schemes that metonymically reinforce and undercut notions of truth and "fin amors." Through carefully constructed…
Patterson, Lee.
Bonnie Wheeler, ed. Mindful Spirit in Late Medieval Literature: Essays in Honor of Elizabeth D. Kirk (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006), pp. 187-210.
Patterson reads ClT in light of negotiations over the marriage of Richard II and Isabelle of France in 1396 and of the texts surrounding those negotiations, especially those concerned with the ideology of sacral kingship. Chaucer knew of the marriage…
Stanbury, Sarah.
Bonnie Wheeler, ed. Mindful Spirit in Late Medieval Literature: Essays in Honor of Elizabeth D. Kirk (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006), pp. 211-24.
Accusations of eucharistic host desecration in Prague in 1389 may be read as a backdrop for PrT. Stanbury summarizes the events of mob violence that led to a massacre of Jews.
Matthews, William.
Bonnie Wheeler, Robert L. Kindrick, and Michael D. Salda, eds. The Malory Debate: Essays on the Texts of Le Morte Darthur. Arthurian Studies, no. 47. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2000, pp. 1-34.
A revision (by Robert L. Kindrick) of Matthews's "Caxton and Malory: A Re-View" (SAC 24 [2002], no. 34), with a corrected title.
Dalby, Richard.
Book and Magazine Collector 199: 46-59, 2000.
Surveys the sales performance of various editions of Chaucerian texts, concentrating on recent sales and auctions and on market values. Includes a brief survey of Chaucer's works and editions and responds to the auction of Caxton's first edition for…
Edwards, A. S. G.
Book Collector 21 (1972) 380-85.
Recounts the details of various transactions involving the theft, acquisition, and sales of the Cardigan manuscript (now University of Texas Humanities Research Center MS 143), focusing on information derived from the papers of Henry Noble…
Recounts the aims and accomplishments of the modernization of Chaucer edited by Horne in 1840-41, with contributions by Leigh Hunt, William Wordsworth, and Elizabeth Barrett, among others. Correspondence helps to clarify what individual contributors…
Studies the marginalia printed with the 1606 edition of "The Plowman's Tale," arguing that it challenges both Papal authority and the Church of England, encouraging Puritanism. Also discusses the place of this edition in the tradition of Chaucer…
Taylor, Andrew.
Books That Changed the World: The 50 Most Influential Books in Human History (London: Quercus, 2008), pp. 46-49.
Summarizes Chaucer's life and works, particularly CT, and praises Chaucer's characterizations, use of vernacular English, and depiction of a wide social range and register.
Speirs, John.
Boris Ford, ed. The Age of Chaucer. Volume I of a Guide to English Literature (Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin), pp. 17-67.
Offers advice to modern readers on how to read Chaucer--and what to read of his works--as preparation for appreciating Middle English verse more generally, emphasizing his "civilized delicacy" and his variety while surveying his works. Then surveys…
Mann, Jill.
Boris Ford, ed. The New Pelican Guide to English Literature, Volume 1, Part 1: Medieval Literature: Chaucer and the Alliterative Tradition (New York and Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin, 1982), pp. 133-53.
Reads FranT as an epitome of the CT to the extent that both are concerned with the "ideal of patience and the problems of time and change," emphasizing the universality of these concerns and their appearances throughout the CT. As in Marie de…
Brewer, Derek.
Boris Ford, ed. The New Pelican Guide to English Literature, Volume 1, Part 1: Medieval Literature: Chaucer and the Alliterative Tradition (New York and Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin, 1982), pp. 15-39.
Describes the major social institutions and social practices of late-medieval England, identifying their roots, indicating their later developments, and illustrating their features from Middle English literary sources, especially the works of…
Bishop, Ian.
Boris Ford, ed. The New Pelican Guide to English Literature, Volume 1, Part 1: Medieval Literature: Chaucer and the Alliterative Tradition (New York and Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin, 1982), pp. 174-87.
Treats TC and KnT together because each derives from a source by Boccaccio and because each includes Boethian thought; also considers the Shakespearean analogues of each and compares each with opera, Books 1-3 of TC correspond to the "medieval…
Richardson, Macolm
Borrowers and Lenders: The Journal of Shakespeare and Appropriation 5.2 (2010): n.p. [Electronic publication]
Recounts the experiences of teaching a British Literature survey at a Louisiana university in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in Fall 2005, exploring why student response to CT was unusually intense at that time, particularly for its concern with…
