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Food and the Literary Imagination
Archer, Jayne Elisabeth, Richard Marggraf Turley, and Howard Thomas.
New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.
Examines production and reception of food in canonical literary works, including writings by Chaucer, Shakespeare, Keats, and George Eliot. Chapter 3, "Chaucer's Pilgrims and a Medieval Game of Food," focuses on how issues of "food security and…
Chaucer and the Taverners of Ipswich: The Influence of His Paternal Ancestors upon some Portraits and upon His Descendants
Boyd, Beverly.
Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin Mellen Press, 2014.
Argues that as he grew older, Chaucer became disenchanted with the affectations of court life and with the mercantile life of his own father and developed an interest in his paternal ancestors who had been provincial taverners in Ipswich in the…
Chaucer and Array: Patterns of Costume and Fabric Rhetoric in the "Canterbury Tales," "Troilus and Criseyde" and Other Works
Hodges, Laura F.
Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2014.
Explores Chaucer's familiarity with conventional costume description and fabric reference in medieval genres, especially romances and fabliaux, and argues that Chaucer often reverses traditional patterns of audience expectation in which romances are…
The Narration of the "Canterbury Tales": Themes and Variations
Sato, Tsutomu, ed.
Tokyo: Sairyusha, 2014.
Examines various aspects of the narrations in CT, ranging from the use of tropes to the author's political position. In Japanese.
Approaches to Teaching Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales"
Travis, Peter W., and Frank Grady, eds.
New York: Modern Language Association of America, 2014.
Second edition of 1980 volume, "Approaches to Teaching Chaucer's 'Canterbury Tales,'" providing articles on pedagogical approaches to teaching CT and including updated section, "The Canterbury Tales in the Digital Age." Sections offer strategies for…
Historians on Chaucer: The "General Prologue" to the "Canterbury Tales"
Rigby, Stephen H., ed., with the assistance of Alastair J. Minnis.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.
Interdisciplinary collection of essays by medieval historians showcasing how application of social, economic, political, religious, and historical frameworks illuminates interpretation of CT. Surveys current debates over social meaning of Chaucer's…
The Host
Carlin, Martha.
Stephen H. Rigby, ed., with the assistance of Alastair J. Minnis. Historians on Chaucer: The "General Prologue" to the "Canterbury Tales" (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), pp. 460-80.
Offers reasons why Chaucer uses a "recognizable contemporary," Henry Bailly, or Bailif (he used both names), as a model for the Host in CT. Provides biographical details on Henry Bailly, or Bailif, of Southwark; historical background of innkeeping…
The Ploughman
Bailey, Mark.
Stephen H. Rigby, ed., with the assistance of Alastair J. Minnis. Historians on Chaucer: The "General Prologue" to the "Canterbury Tales" (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), pp. 352-67.
Reviews the history of rural society in late fourteenth-century England, as well as stereotypes of medieval ploughmen. Reinforces how the plagues affected labor issues and "social relations within the third estate." Argues that Chaucer's Ploughman…
Chaucer the Poet and Chaucer the Pilgrim
Barron, Caroline L.
Stephen H. Rigby, ed., with the assistance of Alastair J. Minnis. Historians on Chaucer: The "General Prologue" to the "Canterbury Tales" (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), pp. 24-41.
Discusses the character of Chaucer the pilgrim in GP. Includes history of Chaucer's life at Aldgate, his work as controller of customs, and later years when he moved away from London.
The Yeoman
Pollard, Anthony J.
Stephen H. Rigby, ed., with the assistance of Alastair J. Minnis. Historians on Chaucer: The "General Prologue" to the "Canterbury Tales" (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), pp. 77-93.
Explains the role of the "yeoman in medieval society," providing different interpretations for understanding the social significance of Chaucer's Yeoman.
Reading Chaucer: Literature, History, and Ideology
Rigby, Stephen H.
Stephen H. Rigby, ed., with the assistance of Alastair J. Minnis. Historians on Chaucer: The "General Prologue" to the "Canterbury Tales" (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), pp. 1-23.
Introduces a collection of essays and emphasizes how different social, historical, and ethical "interpretative frameworks" can deepen an understanding of Chaucer's pilgrims in GP.
The Five Guildsmen
Rosser, Gervase.
Stephen H. Rigby, ed., with the assistance of Alastair J. Minnis. Historians on Chaucer: The "General Prologue" to the "Canterbury Tales" (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), pp. 247-61.
Discusses Chaucer's creation of the five Guildsmen in GP. Stresses the "complex phenomenon," historical background, and proliferation of medieval guilds and fraternities in the fourteenth century.
The Knight
Rigby, Stephen H.
Stephen H. Rigby, ed., with the assistance of Alastair J. Minnis. Historians on Chaucer: The "General Prologue" to the "Canterbury Tales" (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), pp. 42-62.
Presents a historical perspective on crusading in the Middle Ages and provides historical details about the Knight's battle locations in GP.
The Miller
Rigby, Stephen H.
Stephen H. Rigby, ed., with the assistance of Alastair J. Minnis. Historians on Chaucer: The "General Prologue" to the "Canterbury Tales" (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), pp. 368-85.
Offers a history of late-medieval English milling and the social and economic effects of the Black Death in an analysis of Chaucer's Miller. Claims that MilT is both a "comical fabliau" and "an Augustinian moral performance."
The Cook
Woolgar, Christopher M.
Stephen H. Rigby, ed., with the assistance of Alastair J. Minnis. Historians on Chaucer: The "General Prologue" to the "Canterbury Tales" (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), pp. 262-76.
Reviews medieval cooks who could possibly have been models for Chaucer's Cook and suggests that Chaucer uses the Cook to reflect the social and moral issues of estates literature. Also, discusses the Cook's dislikes in CT and his connections with…
The Reeve
Stone, David.
Stephen H. Rigby, ed., with the assistance of Alastair J. Minnis. Historians on Chaucer: The "General Prologue" to the "Canterbury Tales" (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), pp. 399-420.
Considers the reality, ideology, meaning, and historical context of Chaucer's Reeve, assessing how in RvT Chaucer comments on "contemporary and social trends in a reactionary way."
The Sergeant of Law
Musson, Anthony.
Stephen H. Rigby, ed., with the assistance of Alastair J. Minnis. Historians on Chaucer: The "General Prologue" to the "Canterbury Tales" (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), pp. 206-26.
Portrays the "moral, social, political, and professional" worlds of medieval lawyers, often found in estates satires, enriching understanding of Chaucer's Sergeant of Law in GP.
The Wife of Bath
Karras, Ruth Mazo.
Stephen H. Rigby, ed., with the assistance of Alastair J. Minnis. Historians on Chaucer: The "General Prologue" to the "Canterbury Tales" (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), pp. 319-33.
Compares the characterization of the Wife of Bath in GP with that found the WBP, claiming that Chaucer "is satirizing both the extremes of antifeminism and feminine self-authority." Focuses on sociohistorical challenges for medieval women, and…
The Friar
Geltner, G.
Stephen H. Rigby, ed., with the assistance of Alastair J. Minnis. Historians on Chaucer: The "General Prologue" to the "Canterbury Tales" (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), pp. 156-69.
Views Chaucer as a "social satirist and master of ambiguity" for his portrayal of the Friar within the anti-fraternal literary tradition.
The Summoner
Forrest, Ian.
Stephen H. Rigby, ed., with the assistance of Alastair J. Minnis. Historians on Chaucer: The "General Prologue" to the "Canterbury Tales" (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), pp. 421-42.
Reveals the Summonor to be an "unattractive caricature" and posits reasons for Chaucer's description and portrayal in GP and SumT. Provides historical background on medieval summoners, and claims that the Summoner is "part of a Chaucerian critique"…
The Clerk
Briggs, Charles F.
Stephen H. Rigby, ed., with the assistance of Alastair J. Minnis. Historians on Chaucer: The "General Prologue" to the "Canterbury Tales" (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), pp. 187-205.
Presents a variety of historical contexts for Chaucer's characterization of the Clerk, discussing medieval universities, manuscripts from fourteenth-century Oxford, and the role of clerks in medieval society. Includes appendices of "Manuscripts…
The Merchant
Goddard, Richard.
Stephen H. Rigby, ed., with the assistance of Alastair J. Minnis. Historians on Chaucer: The "General Prologue" to the "Canterbury Tales" (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), pp. 170-86.
Examines how Chaucer's understanding of medieval trade, finance, and commerce is reflected in the Merchant's portrait in GP. Connects historical fluctutions in the English and Italian wool trade to the Merchant's business acumen in MerT.
The Squire
Taylor, Craig.
Stephen H. Rigby, ed., with the assistance of Alastair J. Minnis. Historians on Chaucer: The "General Prologue" to the "Canterbury Tales" (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), pp. 63-76.
Details the history of the chivalric relationship between the Squire and the Knight, concluding that the Squire "offers a complete portrait of aristocratic masculinity."
The Franklin
Coss, Peter.
Stephen H. Rigby, ed., with the assistance of Alastair J. Minnis. Historians on Chaucer: The "General Prologue" to the "Canterbury Tales" (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), pp. 227-46.
Examines current scholarship to illuminate the portrait of the Franklin in GP, arguing that it reflects Chaucer's various opinions about "the social position of franklins in real life" and "the roles Chaucer has its Franklin perform" in FranT.
The Doctor of Physic
Rawcliffe, Carole.
Stephen H. Rigby, ed., with the assistance of Alastair J. Minnis. Historians on Chaucer: The "General Prologue" to the "Canterbury Tales" (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), pp. 297-318.
Analyzes the historical background of late fourteenth-century medical practice in order to understand better Chaucer's portrait of the Physician in GP. Emphasizes how Chaucer reveals his opinions on morality, as well as the medical profession,…
