Zedolik, John.
Studies in Philology 112.3 (2015): 490-503.
Treats control as a thematic device in MerT and in CT at large. January seeks to control May through literal enclosure, but is himself figuratively controlled by May and Damian, becoming a keeper kept. Conversely, the pilgrim narrator of CT…
Suggests Arabic texts not as sources for MerT, but as fellow exemplars of certain similar "universal" archetypes (tree, garden, billet-doux, key). Juxtaposes Arabic tales (some from "The Arabian Nights") with MerT, and organizes stories by tree type…
Rodrıguez Mesa, Francisco Jose.
Elisa Borsari, ed. En lengua vulgar castellana traduzido: Ensayos sobre la actividad traductora durante la Edad Media (San Millan de la Cogolla: Cilengua, 2015), pp. 121–33.
Evaluates Chaucer's strategies of adapting his Italian sources in ClT. He uses three paratexts to adjust the original story to the specific narratological and structural microcosm of CT: ClP, the conclusion explaining what Petrarch meant in…
Normandin, Shawn.
Notes and Queries 260 (2015): 218–19.
In rendering Petrarch's explanation for why God tests humans in the form of a disjointed sentence (ClT, 1153-61), Chaucer points out its irrationality. Argues how this ploy resonates with the Clerk's expression of qualms about Petrarch at the…
Ida, Hideho.
Doshisha Global and Regional Studies Review 4 (2015): 45-65.
Points out lines of ClT not included in either of the Latin and French sources and considers the meanings of these additions by Chaucer. Argues that Walter is characterized as stricter in ClT, and discusses the narrator Clerk's position in relation…
Hui-jeong, Seon.
Medieval and Early Modern English Studies 22.2 (2014): 31-59.
Examines the irony and paradoxes of ClT, claiming that through the Tale, the Clerk "challenges an audience as Griselda's impassive patience challenges Walter." Views the Clerk as a "complicated figure of utter submissiveness and essential silence…
Examines the Summoner in GP in connection with representations of leprosy and discusses the limitations of the digital manuscripts used to research findings.
Takana, Hidekuni.
Bulletin of Seikei University 46 (2011): 13–22.
Compares WBT with its Middle English analogues and comments on the relations between WBPT and ShT. http://repository.seikei.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/10928/86/1/bungaku-46_13-22.pdf (accessed January 12, 2016). In Japanese.
Stadolnik, Joseph.
English Studies 97.1 (2016): 15–21.
Argues that the Wife's "fyr" and "tow" not only warn against sexual temptation but are also a contemporary "reference to the fatal accident at the "bal des ardents" at the French royal court in 1393, which very nearly took the life of Charles VI."
Parsons, Ben.
Studies in the Age of Chaucer 37 (2015): 163–94.
Identifies relations between domestic and pedagogical violence in WBP, establishing that its vocabulary is "redolent of the classroom" and arguing that Jankyn's treatment of Alison grants her agency, albeit unintentionally. Describes the motivations…
Nakley, Susan.
Journal of English and Germanic Philology 114.1 (2015): 61-87
Establishes how WBT's treatment of sovereignty and of civic and domestic institutions "redefine[s] English nobility as a national form of identity" that crosses class and gender boundaries. Further argues that Chaucer's anachronistic use of Dante in…
Delony, Mikee C.
Priscilla Pope-Levison and John R. Levison, eds. Sex, Gender, and Christianity (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2012), pp. 33–57.
Examines connections between women's weaving and preaching by focusing on Alisoun. Uses the metaphor of weaving to establish how Alisoun "wove textiles and words as a mode of female expression and critique of the patriarchal church's interpretation…
Burrow, J. A.
Review of English Studies 66, no. 276 (2015): 624-33.
Considers how Nature brings forces to bear that "incline" Hart to feel and behave the way he does in "King Hart." Argues that Chaucer's Wife of Bath uses the same technical term when she says "I folwed at myn inclinacioun / By vertu of my…
O'Connell, Brendan.
Medium Aevum 84.1 (2015): 16–39.
Unlike Constance in Trevet and Gower, Custance in MLT does not speak with her would-be rapist; further, she immediately struggles with him and receives divine aid in overcoming him. Asserts that Chaucer's treatment of this scene demonstrates…
Johnson, Eleanor.
Journal of English and Germanic Philology 114, no. 4 (2015): 504-25.
Argues that the Man of Law depicts himself as a traditionalist in law. Through his presentation in GP, his conversation with the Host, and his Tale, the Man of Law separates himself from negative views of lawyers in the wake of the 1381 Rising. In…
Czarnowus, Anna.
Rafal Boryslawski, Czarnowus, and Lukasz Neubauer, eds. Marvels of Reading: Essays in Honour of Professor Andrzej Wicher (Katowice: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Slaskiego, 2015), pp. 103-13.
Assesses representation of the mothers-in-law in MLT and their equivalent in the BBC adaptation, where the mother-in-law is of Iranian origin, but looks on Custance from a highly racist perspective.
Although the Reeve claims a moral high ground by telling a story that deals out justice to its dishonest miller, this revenge does not accord with the moral virtue of justice nor with the amoral fabliau genre, undermining the Reeve's sanctimony and…
Explains that the medieval notion of "curiositas" (illicit pursuit of knowledge) entails concupiscence of the eyes, concupiscence of the flesh, and worldly pride, showing that these vices are a theme that links MilT and RvT, particularly evident in a…
Slefinger, John.
Essays in Medieval Studies 30 (2014): 155–64.
Explores how the Miller might be interacting with the Wife of Bath when he presents Alisoun, whose description "represents an attempt to control and win the Wife of Bath's sexual attention while undercutting any agency or interiority she may have."
Beidler, Peter G.
Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2015.
Describes how Chaucer adapted his source, Heile of Beersele, increasing the "theatricality" of plot and details in making MilT, concentrating on the architectural setting (house and window), dramatic details, and additional "scenes." Surveys and…
Schrock, Chad D.
New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.
Explores how Abelard, Chaucer, and Langland used consolatory narratives in their writings. Chapter 5 (pp. 107-27) explores Augustinian and Boethian concerns in KnT.
Magnani, Roberta.
Medieval Feminist Forum 50 (2014): 90-126.
Discusses Emily's subjectivity and "empowered devotional femininity" in KnT. Contends that Chaucer's "queer hermeneutics" adjusts "traditional concepts of masculinity and femininity" within KnT.
