Discusses prayer in various contexts. Chaucer depicts prayer as a means to explore "thorny issues of theology" and often places his prayers in "pagan contexts."
Krygier, Marcin, and Liliana Sikorska, eds.
New York: Peter Lang, 2007.
Includes three essays on Middle English language (fricative spellings, 'before' as a temporal conjunction, and multiple negation) and four on Middle English literature (an East Anglian miracle play, Malory's "Morte Darthur," TC, and Sheela-na-gig…
Lightsey, Scott.
New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.
Considers classical and medieval attitudes toward automata and mirabilia as context for analyzing their presence and depictions in late medieval English culture, especially in works by Langland, Chaucer, Gower, and Mandeville. Chapter 2, "Chaucer and…
Objective evaluation reveals the "elusive" and contradictory "evidence" on which chronologies of Chaucer's works--and, most notably, constructions of his artistic maturation--are based. These constructions are essentially interpretive activities;…
Masciandaro, Nicola.
Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 2007.
Masciandaro investigates the vocabulary of work (travail, labour, swink, werk, craft) and its cultural significance in late medieval England, exploring depictions of the history of work in Middle English literature (including Gower, a treatise on…
Pearsall, Derek.
TLS, January 12, 2007, pp. 12-13.
Examines attempts to associate Chaucer's works with qualities (assumed or inferred) that constitute "Englishness" and argues that such associations were products of nineteenth- and twentieth-century xenophobia (usually anti-French). Chaucer's works…
Phillips, Susan E.
University Park, Pa.: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2007.
Phillips investigates "the intersection between unofficial speech, pastoral practice, and literary production in late medieval England," focusing on pastoral and penitential injunctions against gossip, "idle talk," and "janglyng" and on literary…
Pugh, Tison, and Angela Jane Weisl, eds.
New York: Modern Language Association, 2007.
Thirty brief essays on teaching TC, BD, HF, PF, LGW, and the lyrics, divided into four groups and an appendix: (1) materials (survey of editions and teaching aids by the editors); (2) backgrounds (lyrics, William A. Quinn; French tradition, Karla…
Raybin, David.
Essays in Medieval Studies 24 (2007): 21-29
Reviews scholarship on Chaucer and London and briefly examines the impact of the Black Death, noting that "the threat of death is everywhere in Chaucer's work." An appendix lists "Recent Studies Treating Chaucer and London."
Robertson, Elizabeth.
Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature 26 (2007): 67-79.
Includes recurrent attention to Chaucer studies, while exploring the history of feminism in medieval studies and the need for a "dialectical questioning" between concerns of particular historical women and their more general contexts.
Scase, Wendy.
New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.
Studies the "impact of judicial complaint on the formation of literary practice" in late medieval England, describing the "emergence and development" of the "literature of clamour" and exploring the influence of this literature on the rise of English…
Schoff, Rebecca L.
Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2007.
Circumstances of transmission affect not only how authors are received but also how they write. This effect was particularly strong in late medieval culture, when authors such as Chaucer, William Langland, and Margery Kempe were aware that readers…
Semper, Philippa.
Gail Ashton and Louise Sylvester, eds. Teaching Chaucer (New York and Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007), pp. 120-38.
Describes efforts at the University of Birmingham (between 2000 and 2005) to incorporate web-based materials (computer-mediated materials and virtual learning environments) into teaching Chaucer and Middle English. Also considers methods of assessing…
Shippey, Tom.
Joseph Epstein, ed. Literary Genius: 25 Classic Writers Who Define English & American Literature (Philadelphia, Pa.: Paul Dry Books), 2007, pp. 8-15.
Comments on Chaucer's life and works, focusing on his narrative timing, depth of characterization, and linguistic subtlety as means to express sympathy for human weakness. Includes three glossed passages from CT and two wood engravings by Barry Moser…
Solopova, Elizabeth, and Stuart D. Lee.
New York and Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.
Describes "key themes, texts, terminologies and methods" related to medieval English literature, divided into four sections: (1) Introductory Key Concepts; (2) Old English; (3) Middle English; and (4) Approaches, Theory and Practice. Recurrent…
Strohm, Paul, ed.
Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2007.
Twenty-nine essays by various authors, each essay with suggestions for further reading. The volume has three indices: Medieval Authors and Titles; Names; and Subject. It seeks "to avoid settled consensus in favour of unresolved debate, to prefer the…
Summerfield, Thea, and Keith Busby, eds.
Amsterdam and New York : Rodopi, 2007.
Fourteen essays by various writers and a bibliography of works published by Erik Kooper, presented to Kooper on the occasion of his sixty-fifth birthday. Topics range widely in English and French medieval traditions, with recurrent focus on romance.…
Swanson, R. N., ed.
Boston and Leiden: Brill, 2006.
Twelve essays by various authors and an introduction by the editor. General commentary on the theology of indulgences and more focused studies of the history and literary depiction of indulgences in European nations/institutions in the late Middle…
Argues for exposing students to a greater range of medieval perspectives than is afforded by traditional single-author courses on Chaucer, explaining the pedagogy of teaching Chaucer in conjunction with the TEAMS Middle English Texts anthology "The…
Thomas, Alfred.
Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2007.
Studies artistic, religious, and political exchanges between England and Bohemia in the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance, including Anne of Bohemia's influence in England, Wyclif's influence in Bohemia, Shakespeare's formulation of Bohemia, and…
Explores how social division and civic dissent were articulated and addressed in late fourteenth-century literature. As evident in HF, TC, and CT, Chaucer was persistently interested in the slipperiness of truth and in the power of language. Figures…
Turner, Marion.
Paul Strohm, ed. Middle English (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), pp. 258-73.
Turner asks whether "literary practice and socio-political conflict" were "mutually dependent" in Ricardian England, arguing that writers and scribes--including Chaucer and Adam Pinkhurst--worked for "politically active and volatile guilds" and…
A survey of Middle English literature, designed to accompany the author's anthology "A Book of Middle English" (with J. A. Burrow; 3rd ed., 2005). Treats six topics: the English language; manuscripts, scribes, and audiences; literature and society,…
