Browse Items (16472 total)

Celebrates the character and career of C. David Benson, surveying his publications and professional activities.

Introduces the essays in a double-issue of "Chaucer Review" dedicated to C. David Benson; includes a black-and-white picture of Benson and a bibliography of his publications.

Surveys some 5,000 wills available at the Guildhall Court of Hustings, documenting that, even though the practice was formerly prohibited, property was regularly acquired by wives in late medieval London through the deaths of their husbands. Observes…

Provides postcolonial reading of history of Jewish communities and anti-Semitic discourses in medieval England. Chapter 5, "Text and Context: Tracing Chaucer's moments of Jewishness," discusses Jews in CT, focusing on Th, and PrT.

Considers how the "professional identity" of the teller informs concerns with justice in MLT. Engagement with mercantile law, common law, natural law, divine intervention, and the "limitations of human justice" pervade MLPT and indicate an uncertain…

Assesses the relations between universality and particularity as epistemological modes in MLT, exploring allegory and individuality, realism and nominalism, and generalization and specification in the characterization of Custance and how she is…

The language and imagery of demonic temptation versus human free will connect FrT and SumT and gain dimension by comparison with ClT. Thomas of SumT is called "demonyak," but his scatological riposte to the friar is justified anger.

Discusses biblical kings represented in the "camera depicta" of the Westminster Chamber, also treated in several literary works on kingship, including MkT and a short passage in ParsT. The Chamber's murals proclaim the Plantagenet kings to be "ideal…

Argues that SNT "presents conversion as a choice stimulated by apprehension of the divine through the senses" and accomplished by a "radical act of the will, unmediated and immediate, if not inherently violent."

Assesses Rom as a translation and also as a key moment in Chaucer's literary career that will make him the father of English poetry.

Comprehensive catalog of western European illuminated manuscripts in the Cambridge University Library. Includes several indices of iconography, scribes, artists, binders, and authors (with Chaucer listed under "G" for Geoffrey), along with…

Includes four articles related to Middle English manuscripts, CT, and medievalisms. For essays that pertain to Chaucer, search for Focus on Old and Middle English Studies under Alternative Title.

Studies the treatment of manuscripts in the MED, especially those containing Chaucer's works. Detects potential for confusion in the use of the double-dating system (manuscript and composition dates, not always consistently cited), and in the…

Studies Sercambi's "Novelle" and CT against the background of historical writing, and classical and medieval traditions of "narratio brevis," including the oriental models, in particular the frame stories "in itinere." Analyzes features of short…

Analyzes E. E. Cummings' recovery and revision of medieval themes, models, and authors, including Chaucer, who inspired him to express the exaltation of beauty. Both authors' use of language is considered revolutionary for their times.

A feminist reading of the Wife of Bath's personality and behavior, focusing on her married life, her sexual attitudes, and linguistic usage.

Studies fame, death, and related motifs in William Dunbar's "Lament for the Makars" ("Timor Mortis"), including comments on his echoes of and references to Chaucer.

Examines the unique witness to the text of "Kingis Quair" (Bodleian MS Arch. Selden B.24), assessing what the two scribal practices of the manuscript indicate about the composition, reception, and meaning of the poem. Includes discussion of the…

Surveys Chaucer's works and literary importance.

Discusses how authors, from Chaucer to C. S. Lewis, are influenced by the "flexible tradition" of religious stories. Chapter 1 analyzes how Chaucer reveals understanding of Christian doctrine in WBT.

Explores the "literary negotiation of the macabre aesthetic in Middle English literature." Chapter 2, "The Progress of the Dead: From Body to Revenant," discusses "'physical' return of the dead" in BD and PrT.

Examines what "medieval romances convey about the possibilities for female social and cultural influence" during the Middle Ages. Chapter 1 analyzes how Chaucer's depictions of Cassandra and Criseyde were influenced by "representations of women's…

Reviews notions and constructions of authorship in medieval and early modern texts, including works by Chaucer, Gower, Shakespeare, Jonson, Milton, and Marvell. For two essays that pertain to Chaucer, search for Medieval and Early Modern Authorship…

Addresses the "literal paternity" of Chaucer as the "father of English poetry" for fifteenth- and sixteenth-century writers, including Shakespeare and Jonson. Discusses how Chaucer established himself as a "poet within the classical poetic line." …

Analyzes the role of the first-person pronoun, "supponit pro," and narrating voice in TC through the lens of "medieval sign theory." Argues that through translation, authorship is transformed because authorship becomes "a matter of re-elaboration…