Browse Items (16472 total)

Traces "gendered protocols of violence that have been inherited through literary interpretive practices as they are represented in Chaucer's corpus." Argues that "acts of reading, writing, and translation can function as forms of violence in medieval…

Compares "the accepted and variant readings of 'Melibeus' with the corresponding passages in the French source, 'Le Livre de Melibee et Prudence'," assessing variants from fifty-seven manuscriptsof Mel and arguing that there was "an earlier version…

Argues that Chaucer's works "reflect an increasing awareness of the fragility of the author's implied voice and the dangers of misprision in a listening reception," largely an effect of the rise of English as a written language and tensions between…

Considers evidence in CT and TC that Chaucer was influenced by Thomas Bradwardine, often mediated by John Wyclif, and that he shares outlooks with John of Gaunt, John Gower, and Ralph Strode.

Defines "medieval female voice" as "any instance of thought or speech by a female character" and "evaluates the alterations made (by Chaucer and scribes) to five Italian-sourced female voices" in KnT (Emelye and Ypolita), MerT (May), FranT (Dorigen),…

Argues that the "study of the apocalyptic in the English literature of the late fourteenth cannot boil down simply to the tracing of sources or to historicist (New and otherwise) readings of contemporary texts and artifacts," and pursues, instead,…

There is a tradition which views the knight's pursuit of love as an inversion of responsibility to God and to society. In CT, the Knight embodies spiritual and social duty whereas the Squire represents a subversion of proper knightly functions.

Separates medieval ideas of love (primarily Ovidian and Augustianian) from Romantic and post-Romantic ideas, and argues that Chaucer "was unquestionably a man of his time--an orthodox member of the Church and a firm follower of the teachings of St.…

Offers "close analysis of the use of 'sententiae' and narrative 'exempla'," exploring NPT, WBT, PardT, SumT, and ParsT in light of "traditional and late medieval sermon theory and practice" evident in the "artes praedicandi" and in medieval…

Historical analysis of the changes in the English world view preceding and following the Black Death of 1349, with particular attention to the art and literature up to 1385 and its "pessimism and macabre realism." Includes recurrent references to…

Considers Chaucer's realism, seeking to define it "inductively" through close reading of GP, the links between the tales, and the "confessional monologues" of CT. Focuses on concrete descriptions, dialogue, and "haphazard organization and…

Uses the concept of "semyvif " (half-alive) to examine "Piers Plowman," the "Tale of Beryn," TC, SNT, and "Morte Darthur" for ways that they broaden "our historical understanding of disability and its conceptual range."

Item not seen. From the abstract: "The chapters examine a range of Middle English literary texts that respond to the prescriptive recommendations for mourning outlined in Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy and in the . . . penitential literature…

Studies fourteenth- and fifteenth-century versions of the Griselda story, including ClT, arguing that it does not derive from the Cupid and Psyche myth and that several versions thought to be analogues are not in fact so.

Distinguishes between "the Aesopic and the Reynardian" fable traditions, their uses in the sermon tradition, and their impact on various medieval and Renaissance English literary works, including NPT.

Focuses on the "complex textual contingency" of the figure of Theseus in the "history of mythographical discourse," exploring "the fragmentary, fluid and polymorphous nature of mythology" in a wide variety of medieval and early modern texts--English,…

Explores "the historiographic importance of Troy . . . in the formation of an English literary tradition as defined by the idea of authorship and negotiated through genre . . . . particularly epic, romance and history." Studies the sources and…

Includes discussion of "a shared six-part musical structure, hitherto unnoticed" in the pairing of KnT and MilT.

Investigates notions of contagion, melancholy, and reader response in BD, Gower's "Confessio Amantis," Sidney's "Old Arcadia," Shakespeare's "As You Like It," and four early modern "self-help" texts.

Argues that "the vernacular literature of late medieval England contributes importantly to the theorizing of psychological subjectivity and that this theorizing is connected fundamentally with the history of shame"; focuses on selected works by…

Identifies concerns with patience and marriage in sources and analogues of ClT, and explores the status of these concerns in medieval scriptural commentaries. Argues that ClT presents a clearly orthodox view of marriage which underlies the Clerk's…

Explores a variety of sources, analogues, and backgrounds to WBPT and to the characterization of the Wife of Bath: the Bible (including St. Paul), St. Jerome, Philippe de Meziere's "Presentation Play," the tradition of the Ovidian "vetula" and La…

Identifies the "sense of middleness" found in Middle English verse that rejects "received concepts of poetic form and offers alternatives." Includes a reading of HF "in which Chaucer presents a radically unconventional definition of 'poetic voice' in…

Item not seen. From the abstract: "My dissertation argues that numerous fourteenth-century texts connect listening with ethics in a phenomenon I call "auditory poetics." I analyze human agency surrounding the creation and reception of sound in…

Uses Paul Ricoeur's "theory of narrative identity" to explore various aspects of Chaucer's poetry, including issues of female agency in FranT, ClT, and TC; racialized narratives and white identity in CT; Chaucer's "talking-animal poetry"; and "poetic…