Browse Items (16370 total)

Explores links between privacy and urban spaces in Fragment 1 of CT, especially MilT, in which each of the major male characters fails to control his own "pryvetee." The article follows Pierre Bourdieu in conceptualizing the practices of privacy as a…

Uses "thing theory" to posit that having things conferred subjectivity upon the holder in the Middle Ages. Applies this premise as a way to read Walter's treatment of Griselda in ClT, arguing that "Poor Griselda's selfless submission grows out of a…

Argues that Chaucer raises questions in ClT about relations between poverty and the nature of the self, gauging the extent to which Griselda's agency, selflessness, and lack of "things" are factors in Walter's "inhuman" treatment of her, and asking…

Eighteen essays by various authors, addressing topics such as confession, medicine, chaste marriage, contraception, homosexuality, lesbianism, cross-dressing, prostitution, castration, and various cultural studies: Jewish, Muslim, Eastern Orthodox,…

By making the Pardoner offensive, Chaucer "established a negative stereotype of the effeminate male in Western literature." Modern critical tradition perpetuates the negative stereotype, often ignoring the fact that the Canterbury society tolerates…

Argues that R. K. Root's groupings of manuscript variants in TC (alpha, beta, and gamma) evince Chaucer's developments in his characterizations of Pandarus, Troilus, and, especially, Criseyde; the characterizations also help to balance tragedy and…

Seventeen papers read at the Centenary Conference, Groningen, Jan.15-16, 1986. For two essays that pertain to Chaucer, search for One Hundred Years of English Studies in Dutch Universities under Alternative Title.

Argues that Lydgate's critical return to prominence, after his earlier diminished critical attention, may stem in part from comparisons with Chaucer.

CkT echoes important elements of Genesis, including the themes of disobedience and banishment, the seeking of pleasure, and post-Fall moratlity.

Compares and contrasts aspects of RvT with two analogues, the A and B versions of "Le Meunier et les .II. Clers," arguing that Chaucer's version achieves greater vitality, clearer characterizations and motivations, and a great deal of comic irony.

Chaucer's version of MLT is more like Trevet's than the folktale version identified as "The Handless Maiden." If Chaucer knew this folktale version, his choice of Trevet's more sophisticated version is another tribute to his art.

Chaucer's power lies particularly in the way he adapted and altered his sources and mirrored the world around him.

Compared with Boccaccio's "Il filocolo," Chaucer's innovations--evident in his treatment of the black rocks, the heroine, magic, and the love of Dorigen and Arveragus--create broader contexts: marital love, courtly love, magic,and the theme of…

May's final answer is the culmination of "an incongruence between words and truth that is manifest throughout the entire poem." The preamble of antifeminist material is glossed by an old man's fantasy. The Merchant's "inability" to gloss allows him…

Studies Chaucer's narrative personae in BD and PF, identifying several traits that become "regular marks" of his later self-characterizations: a bookish reteller who interjects personal comments, "comic self-depreciation," and ambiguous "fascination"…

Compares the Wife's presentation of her conduct in WBPT to the conduct book" Le ménagier de Paris," and shows how the Wife's record of her activities and the presentation of negative emotions function as essentially a reversal of the "Ménagier."…

Traces the struggles of Dorigen in FranT as a kind of conduct literature for wives, as Dorigen's pain in Arveragus's absence is linked to "two contemporary French conduct texts--'Le Livre du chevalier de la Tour Landry' (1371) and 'Le Mesnagier de…

Collection of essays charting new investigations of intersectionality of affects, feelings, and emotions in non-religious texts. Authors range from Chaucer to Gavin Douglas, and essays explore practices of witness to the "adoration of objects," and…

Emphasizes how this essay collection presents "an intersectional approach to what medievals call affect and what moderns call emotions," and "speaks to the 'affective turn' in contemporary literary and cultural studies." Introduction provides a close…

Focuses on a variety of late medieval households and argues that there is "a dynamic and reciprocal relationship between domestic experience and its forms of cultural expression" and cultural production. For an essay that pertains to Chaucer, search…

Argues for an expansion of the notion of queer readings of Chaucer, encouraging a broad concern with questions of identity and its formulations. Comments on possible queer approaches to Chaucer the Pilgrim and the "Marriage Group" of CT.

Ten essays on queer issues, with responses by Kruger. Includes readings on a selection of medieval texts, including Christine de Pizan and Dante. For an essay and a response that pertain to Chaucer, search for Queering the Middle Ages under…

Since Chaucer does not describe the Pardoner's kiss, it could be either mouth-to-mouth or cheek-to-cheek; in either case, a public kiss signifies a sort of equality. A reply to Ann Barbeau Gardiner PMLA 108 (1993): 333-34.

The dreamer/narrator's account of the Black Knight and Lady White in BD textualizes their discursive performances, revealing them to be institutionalized discourses desired by the narrator and his audience. The work provides interpretive closure…

Queer theory, by emphasizing provisionality, enables us to think of sexuality and culture differently; it provides a means for gay/lesbian/bi- readers to engage Chaucer. Contemporary constructions of sex, gender, and sexuality can be used as…