The original audience of TC would have read the decision of the Trojan Parliament in light of the 1385 Durham Ordinances, clause 3. Since this clause explicitly prohibits the imprisoning of unarmed women, the parallel suggests Criseyde's status as a…
The anti-Semitism of PrT is attributable to the Prioress, not to Chaucer, who would have known Jews through the courts of Castile (referred to in MkT) and who presents Jews as "renowned historians and transmitters of knowledge in the field of…
Besserman, Lawrence [L.]
Chaucer Review 41(2006): 99-104.
Given his interest in Chaucer and his ownership of a copy of TC, Dickens's "comic literary use of the motif of 'Christ-forgives-his-killers'" may be an echo of Chaucer's use of the motif, which is based on Luke 23.34, in TC 3.1577.
Besserman, Lawrence L.
Chaucer Review 12 (1977): 68-73.
Chaucer uses wordplay as a device for establishing the Nun's Priest's resentment of his subordination to the Prioress. The Priest disassociates himself from the anti-feminist sentiment of the tale with his final claim "I kan noon harm of no womman…
Besserman, Lawrence L.
Chaucer Review 36: 48-72, 2001.
Throughout the decades, Chaucer critics have argued their own biases in interpreting Chaucer's ideology--seeing Chaucer as a "Christian poet"; as a "poet first and foremost"; as an "atheist"; as a writer who was "politically incorrect." Eschewing…
Notes that the visual imagery of falling rocks and millstones Pandarus uses to convince Troilus of his future success is associated with death and destruction in the Bible, which actually undermines Pandarus's argument in TC.
Bessinger, J. B., Jr., reader
New York: Caedmon, 1967. (TC 1226)
A reading in Middle English of PF, MerB, Ros, Sted, Purse, Adam, and Scogan, accompanied by a companion booklet that comprises the text, notes, and glosses based on E. T Donaldson's "Chaucer's Poetry" (1958).
Bessinger, J. B., Jr., reader.
New York: Caedmon, 1967. (TC 1223)
A reading in Middle English of MilPT and RvPT, accompanied by a companion booklet that comprises the text, notes, and glosses based on E. T. Donaldson's "Chaucer's Poetry" (1958).
Bessinger, J. B., Jr., reader.
New York: Caedmon, 1962. (TC 1151). Available at archive.org; accessed June 29, 2024.
A reading in Middle English of GP, ParsP, and Ret., accompanied by introductory liner introduction and a 12-booklet that includes the text of the poetry from F. N. Robinson's 1957 edition, withour notes or glosses.
Bessinger, Jess B., Jr., and Robert P. Creed, eds.
New York: New York University Press, 1965.
Includes 26 essays on Germanic, Old English, Middle English, and Renaissance literary and linguistic topics, along with a dedicatory poem, a brief Introduction, and a list of Magoun's publications between 1924 and 1964, including reviews. For two…
Bessinger, Jess B., Jr., and Robert R. Raymo, eds.
New York: New York University Press, 1976.
Fifteen essays by various authors, commemmorating Hornstein's retirement. For four essays that pertain to Chaucer, search for Medieval Studies in Honor of Lillian Herlands Hornstein under Alternative Title.
Gives examples of the traditional humor that derives from exaggeration in depictions of giants in Middle English romance, and argues that, in Th, Chaucer goes "one step further" in making Oliphaunt ridiculous, largely because this giant is seen from…
ParsT makes use of a tradition of penitential mediation (cf. ParsP 55 and 69) on the virtues and vices. In the plan of CT, ParsT abandons the emotive fiction and fables of the earlier tales for the solid ground of meditation, transforming an earthly…
The long tradition describing the relationship between rhetoric and emotion is reflected in Chaucer's pathetic tales. Particularly in MLT, narrative comment upon the action and vivid description are the conventional strategies used to lead the…
Bestul, Thomas H.
Journal of English and Germanic Philology 82 (1983): 500-14.
Chaucer's close attention to Griselda's and Walter's faces throughout ClT makes allegorical interpretation insufficient. Walter's false faces emphasize his duplicity and cruelty, contradicting his correspondence to a higher beneficent order;…
Bestul, Thomas H.
Chaucer Review 14 (1980): 366-78.
Like other late medieval art, TC exhibits a growing concern with the portrayal of emotions, especially through the shifting role of the narrator. He sometimes resorts to "occupatio," claiming inability to describe an emotional state, and eventually…
Bestul, Thomas H.
Ian Lancashire, ed. Computer-Based Chaucer Studies (Toronto: Centre for Computing in the Humanities, University of Toronto, 1993), pp. 177-87
Describes formats of existing compendia of Chaucer's sources and analogues, emphasizing their limitations. Uses MkT materials to exemplify potential advantages of a hypertext source-and-analogue compilation for Chaucer's corpus.
Bestul reexamines the relevant evidence and shows that Chaucer lived at 179 Upper Thames Street rather than at 177. The study illuminates the history of scholarly politics and of conflicting "historical paradigms" behind the 1966 "Chaucer…
Bestul, Thomas H.
Medieval Feminist Forum 45.1 (2009): 68-92.
Biographical sketch of Bressie, focusing on her work with John M. Manly, Edith Rickert, and Lilian Redstone on the Chaucer life-records and her unsuccessful competition with Martin Crow to publish works related to Chaucer. Bestul admires Bressie's…
Anthologizes a selection of works by Chaucer and by Shakespeare, with a brief general introduction to each and bottom-of-page glosses and notes. The selection from Chaucer, edited by Bethurum and based on the text by Walter W. Skeat, includes GP,…
Presents SqPT and the description of the Squire from the GP in Middle English (based on the Ellesmere manuscript), with bottom-of-page textual notes, end-of text notes and glossary, an Introduction (pp. vii-xxxv), and a description of Chaucer's…
Bethurum, Dorothy, ed.
New York: Columbia University Press, 1960.
Six essays by various authors and a summary Introduction by the editor. For five essays that pertain to Chaucer, search for Critical Approaches to Medieval Literature under Alternative Title.
Traces developments in Chaucer's "attitude to love" as reflected in his narrative personae in BD, LGWP, PF, HF, and TC, assessing this attitude in light of the courtly, Chartrian, and neo-Platonic standards of works by Alain de Lille, Jean de Meun,…
