Dean, James M.
R. F. Yeager and Brian W. Gastle, eds. Approaches to Teaching the Poetry of John Gower (New York: Modern Language Association, 2011), pp. 143-55.
Compares and contrasts Gower's tale of Florent with WBT and "The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle," arguing that Gower and Chaucer "grapple with ethical circumstances in human relationships" (matters of right conduct and governance,…
Demonstrates that Chaucer "occupies a more prominent place" in Samuel Johnson's "Dictionary" than has been acknowledged. Corrects some misconceptions of previous scholars and adds new data about attention to Chaucer in the "Dictionary"--quotations of…
A novel of suspense mystery in which historian Lizzie Manning follows the steps of the Wife of Bath and learns that Alisoun and her descendants had impact on English art and on the location of the bones of Thomas Becket.
Murphy, Russell E.
Yeats Eliot Review 28.1–2 (2011): 3-29.
Reconsiders CT as the source of the opening line of T. S. Eliot's "The Waste Land," exploring intertextual relations with the opening of Dante's "Divine Comedy" as well. Also clarifies the importance of Chaucer's role in the English tradition of…
Peverley, Sarah L.
Juliana Dresvina and Nicholas Sparks, eds. The Medieval Chronicle VII (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2011), pp. 167-203.
Describes how in the first version of his "Chronicle" John Hardyng was influenced by Lydgate in his descriptions of royal power and social harmony--moments of "great joy and triumph"--while depending upon Chaucer and Walton for his concern with…
Adanur, Evrim Doğan, ed.
Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars, 2011.
Includes forty-six papers presented at the fifth international IDEA conference, held at Atilim University, Ankara, Turkey in 2010. For three essays that pertain to Chaucer, search for IDEA: Studies in English under Alternative Title.
Reis, Huriye.
Evrim Doğan Adanur, ed. IDEA: Studies in English (Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars, 2011), pp. 261-71.
Examines the "construction of parenthood" in medieval literature and criticism, focusing on Chaucer's role as "father" of English literature, which lacks a parallel "mother" figure.
Küçükboyaci, Uğur E.
Evrim Doğan Adanur, ed. IDEA: Studies in English (Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars, 2011), pp. 272-83.
Surveys commentary on Chaucer's uses of postmodern techniques in CT, focusing on his experimentation and evasiveness, and his concern with meaning and with the possibilities whereby literature may or may not be considered literal. Discusses…
Öğütcü, Murat.
In Evrim Doğan Adanur, ed. IDEA: Studies in English (Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars, 2011), pp. 289-99.
Assesses the "multilayered constitution" of TC "as a polysemous text" that celebrates "the flesh and the divine simultaneously," reading the poem as the recreation of the "suppressed sexual experience" of Chaucer's youth in his old age, an…
Practical handbook to literacy training, with exercises that include using lines from GP to inspire literacy, from a chapter titled "Exploring Geoffrey Chaucer: A Start" (pp. 181-84).
Sweet, W. H. E.
Vincent Gillespie and Kantik Ghosh, eds. After Arundel: Religious Writing in Fifteenth-Century England (Turnhout: Brepols, 2011), pp. 343-59.
Assesses the use of secular and sacred topics in Lydgate's corpus, arguing that his expressions in his late poems of regret for writing secular verse in mid-career are sincere. Contrasts Lydgate's "retractions" of his poetry in "Testament" and…
Announces a forthcoming board game, "The Road to Canterbury" (Gryphon Games), created by Alf Seegert. The game focuses on the Pardoner, who is traveling with "seven of Chaucer's pilgrims, each of whom is afflicted with one of the seven deadly sins."
Considine, John.
Notes and Queries 256 (2011): 490-91.
Shows that "rake" in the proverbial simile "thin as a rake/rail" (first attested in English in the GP description of the Clerk's horse, I.288) means a fodder crib.
Iglesias-Rábade, Luis.
Studia Neophilologica 83 (2011): 54-66.
Compares and contrasts late medieval English adverbial usage in a number of legal texts with those found in a "Reference Corpus," the latter including a number of examples from Chaucer's works.
Jucker, Andreas H.
Päivi Pahta and Andreas H. Jucker, eds. Communicating Early English Manuscripts (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011), pp. 229-42.
Describes the pragmatic complexities of greetings and farewells and the limitations of using edited literary examples to explore their history. Tabulates and analyzes 140 instances of greetings and farewells in CT, attending to concerns of social…
Schaefer, Ursula.
Svenja Kranich, Victor Becher, Steffen Höder, and Juliane House, eds. Multilingual Discourse Production: Diachronic and Synchronic Perspectives (Philadelphia: Benjamins, 2011), pp. 45-69.
Argues that Chaucer's coinage "blisfulnesse" (also "welefulnesse") in Bo is a calque on the Latin models of "beatitude" and "felicitas," reflecting the poet's sensitivity to complicated conditions of discourse.
Burrow, J. A.
Claude Rawson, ed. The Cambridge Companion to English Poets (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011), pp. 20-36.
Introduces Chaucer's life and describes each of his major works in chronological order, identifying the French context of BD, the Italian travels and reading that influenced him later, the philosophical concerns of TC, and his self-representations in…
Flannery, Mary C.
Review of English Studies 62, no. 255 (2011): 337-57.
Addresses the "handling of gendered shame" in Chaucer's works, arguing that shamefastness (modesty) is a "point of tension between medieval concepts of manliness and feminine honour." Paradoxically, shame is a feature of female honor, while ideals of…
Mahameed, Mohammed, and Al-Quran Raji.
Nebula 8.1 (2011): 199-208.
Asserts that details of astrology, astronomy, and mythology in BD, TC, and CT evince Chaucer's confused and skeptical views of Christianity, commenting on passages from LGW and CT. Available at http://nobleworld.biz/images/Mohammed_Raji.pdf (last…
Nyffenegger, Nicole, and Katrin Rupp, eds.
Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars, 2011.
Ten essays by various authors, with an introduction by the editors and an index. For four essays that pertain to Chaucer, search for Fleshly Things and Spiritual Matters under Alternative Title.
Finke, Laurie.
Nicole Nyffenegger and Katrin Rupp, eds. Fleshly Things and Spiritual Matters: Studies on the Medieval Body in Honour of Margaret Bridges (Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars, 2011), pp. 209-28.
Addresses the male gaze "at other men's bodies," focusing on visual art and on "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight." Includes comments on Chaucer's "lingering over the details of Nicholas's ass" in MilT.
Keller, Angelina.
Nicole Nyffenegger and Katrin Rupp, eds. Fleshly Things and Spiritual Matters: Studies on the Medieval Body in Honour of Margaret Bridges (Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars, 2011), pp. 79-124.
Identifies in medieval medicine a concern with organs and features of the human body that are "grotesquely" able to speak, and associates the concept with Cecilia's neck in SNT and the clergeon's throat in PrT. Through their depictions of human…
Shoaf, R. Allen.
Nicole Nyffenegger and Katrin Rupp, eds. Fleshly Things and Spiritual Matters: Studies on the Medieval Body in Honour of Margaret Bridges (Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars, 2011), pp. 193-208.
Explores verbal play with walls and words in Dante's allusion to Pyramus and Thisbe in his "Commedia"; Chaucer's uses of enclosure and openness in TC in light of his own allusion to the love pair (TC 5.1247-48); and Henryson's closing off of…
Bolens, Guillemette.
Nicole Nyffenegger and Katrin Rupp, eds. Fleshly Things and Spiritual Matters: Studies on the Medieval Body in Honour of Margaret Bridges (Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars, 2011), pp. 51-77.
Explores the extent to which a "literary text may disturb the social drama of gender roles by staging characters deliberately enacting their normative gender roles 'as' enacted gender roles," focusing on Kit in the Prologue to the Tale of Beryn, but…
Thompson, John J.
Graham Allen, Carrie Griffen, and Mary O'Connell, eds. Readings on Audience and Textual Materiality (London: Pickering & Chatto, 2011), pp. 9–21.
Considers the shifts from orality to literacy and from manuscripts to printed books in late medieval English book culture, examining the range of implications about audiences evident in various versions of the lyric "Erthe upon erthe." Opens with…
