Browse Items (16472 total)

Examines the influence of the frame narrative tradition on CT, particularly on Chaucer's use of the "narratio brevis" genre. Also published in Bulletin of the Japanese Association of the History of the English Language n.v. (2009): 31-43.

Explores Western medieval accounts of the Mongols in the context of historic antipathy between "agricultural" societies and their "pastoral"/nomadic rivals. Includes comparative assessments of hunting practices (as seen in BD, "Sir Gawain and the…

Through a close reading of various Ricardian texts, Williams examines the building of what appears to be a contemporary anti-Ricardian rhetoric. Astr implies loyalty to English monarchy, rather than personal loyalty to Richard; KnT and Mel offer a…

Proposes that historical thinking can be productively conceived of as recombinative fantasy rather than as empirical recollection. Uses several medieval examples of imaginative fantasy as exemplary models: Chaucer's House of Rumour in HF, Dante's…

Varnam describes Chaucer's "legacy to English poetry as one of linguistic curiosity and a refusal of generic categorization." With TC, Chaucer "heralded a new era of narrative poetry" rich with philosophy and characterization; in CT, he "created a…

Thirty-five essays by various authors, with a prologue by Treharne, an epilogue by Walker, and a cumulative index. The individual essays, each accompanied by a bibliography, are arranged thematically under seven thematic headings: Literary…

Fourteen essays by various authors, on topics ranging from the Psalms to "Beowulf" to Christine de Pizan, with recurrent attention to mothers and children and Marian lamentation. For three essays that pertain to Chaucer, search for Laments for the…

Despite its antifeminist core, medieval exegesis is not "universally misogynistic or patriarchal." Focusing on three historical moments--the age of Augustine, the twelfth century, and the age of Chaucer, including his fifteenth-century…

Teskey explores the development of "story-telling" into "literature" in English tradition, including comments on Chaucer's place in this development.

Taylor examines the role of the North as an "uncanny figure" in the development of English nationalism, as evidenced in the works of Bede, William of Malmesbury, the Robin Hood ballads, and CT.

Regards the process of reading as the essential pilgrimage of CT, which obviates the need for an arrival at Canterbury. For previously published version, in French, see "Canterbury, la cathédrale où Chaucer n'arrive jamais . . . Mais est-ce bien…

The editorial break between MerE and SqH cannot be defended on the basis of manuscript evidence. The break has obscured an element of the "artistic design" of CT: a sequence of four tales whose tellers represent occupations held either by Chaucer or…

Suggests that Chaucer's CT, the "Lais" of Marie de France, and the "Book of Margery Kempe" include "theopolitical" ideas and thus are informed by the Church's influence on these ideas and on the notion of identity.

The first of the Bloomfield lectures. Traces the impact of "hamartiology" (the study of sin and crisis) in Langland's "Piers Plowman" and Chaucer's CT, especially in GP and the fabliaux. Estates satire, penitential handbooks, and other examples of…

Study of wine and ale in CT. In Japanese

Studies the relationship between sex and laughter in CT both as a way of conveying a didactic purpose and as a manner of representing society and social relations--mostly across gender lines.

Contrasts human song and birdsong in GP, NPT, MilT, PrT, and PF: humans employ reason to understand and appreciate music, while birds sing purely for pleasure. Generally, the human voice is "an indicator of how Chaucer's characters misuse their…

Cigman examines the role and meaning of Canterbury and its cathedral in CT.

Discusses CT as part of a larger consideration of patience--especially female patience--and notes that Chaucer often links patience with epistemological limits.

In striving to contextualize the portrait of the Yeoman in relation to real-world late medieval weaponry and hunting gear, critics overlook both the Yeoman's service as the "bearer" of aristocratic masculinity and the portrait's phallic humor. In…

Considers how "quyting" ("paying back or balancing") among the pilgrims enforces comic harmoniousness and balance in CT, despite the work's fragmentary structure. In addition, CT invites the reader to "'quyt' the author."

Analysis of Becket reliquaries made in Limoges, including commentary on the role of the city and its cathedral in Becket's experience and in CT (as an elusive destination).

Includes introductory comments on displacement in Antiquity and the Middle Ages, specifically the meaning of travel in Chaucer.

Comments on the relationship between narration and food in CT.

Exploring details and multilingual and multidialectical puns and etymologies through a "Proustian lens," Surber discovers sustained attention to homosexuality in CT. Critical uncertainty about specific meaning in Chaucer enables a queer reading that…