Stevens, Martin, and James Paxson.
Studies in Iconography 13 (1989-90): 48-79.
The conflation of the fool with the devil in medieval representation reflected unstable boundaries between the witless man, who had the protection of the Church, and his imitator, the artificial fool. The Wakefield Satan, an artificial fool, is…
With the aid of new electronic tools, Chaucer courses are making an evolutionary leap. These media foster interactive learning and provide access to materials from archives around the world.
Recent work on Chaucer influenced by poststructuralism can be roughly divided into two types: that which finds postmodern concerns already in medieval poetics and language theory, and that which approaches Chaucerian texts through postmodern…
White, Beatrice.
Essays and Studies 38 (1985): 1-11.
Accounts of love from chronicles and letters show that historical love in the Middle Ages was as rich, varied, and earthy as even Chaucer could imagine.
Wright, Sylvia.
British Library Journal 18 (1992): 190-201.
Identifies and describes portraits of authors in initials of British Museum MS. Add. 42131. Two of the three depictions of Chaucer are by the same hand as the miniature accompanying Hoccleve's Regement of Princes (Arundel MS. 38).
Yager, Susan.
Dissertation Abstracts International 52 (1992): 3922A.
Bo states that seeing should be deliberate action. Chaucer, who uses many words relating to seeing (and apparently introduced some into English), treats failure to perceive (Argus, January, Walter, Troilus) and illusion (HF, MLT, FranT, CYP, and…
CT Fragment VII illustrates and undercuts the Aristotelian causes of literature. Thus, ShT demonstrates the near efficient cause, the teller; PrT, the remote cause, God. Chaucer-the-Pilgrim, the final cause, separates delight and instruction in Th…
MLT, ClT, and PhyT address the same question: how can God allow the innocent to suffer and the wicked to go unpunished? Although in each case Chaucer enhances the virtue of the protagonist and the pathos of her suffering, he tests diverse…
Bisson, Lillian M.
Medieval Perspectives 7 (1992): 19-33.
Chaucer's and Eco's works appear to be structured as "unicursal labyrinths" but are really based on "multicursal labyrinths" in which no center can be found. Chaucer's aesthetic demonstrates the open quality that Eco finds specific to contemporary…
Dauby, Helene.
Danielle Buschinger and Wolfgang Spiewok, eds. Heldensage--Heldenlied--Heldenepos. Ergebnisee der II. Jahrestagung der Reineke--Gesellschaft, Gotha 16-20 Mai 1991. Wodan 12.4.2 (1992): 115-22.
Warlike heroism is never clearly praised in CT. It is always connected with "feeble" characters, such as women and children, whose weapons are their voices (prayers, songs).
Davidson, Linda Kay, and Maryjane Dunn-Wood.
New York and London: Garland Press, 1993.
This annotated bibliography of 1,062 entries is analyzed in seven categories: history of pilgrimage, introduction to the study of pilgrimage, Jerusalem, Rome, Santiago de Compostela, other sites, and pilgriamge in the arts. Each category includes…
A series of essays by various authors, some with continental applications, with an annotated bibliography of medieval English literature through 1987.
For essays that pertain to Chaucer. search for Typology and English Medieval Literature under…
Delasanta, Rodney (K.)
Hugh T. Keenan, ed. Typology and English Medieval Literature (New York: AMS, 1992), pp. 121-39.
The pilgrim narrator of CT represents the views of nominalist epistemology, creating a tension in the text as Chaucer the poet continues to uphold a more traditional epistemology based on "ante-rem," "in-rem," and "post-rem" universals.
Clogan, Paul M.
Hugh T. Keenan, ed. Typology and English Medieval Literature (New York: AMS, 1992), pp. 168.
Building on medieval conventions in which the city was a metaphor for the human condition, Thebes--known for fratricide and civil war--symbolizes disorder and chaos. Theseus, especially through his subjugation of the queen of the lawless and violent…
Besserman, Lawrence [L.]
Hugh T. Keenan, ed. Typology and English Medieval Literature (New York: AMS, 1992), pp. 183-205.
Chaucer uses biblical exegesis and typology for thematic purposes. In ClT, Griselda is portrayed as "pharmakos," a "figura Christi," through Chaucer's addition of biblical colorings and the typological juxtaposition of her character and actions with…
Morse, Charlotte C.
Hugh T. Keenan, ed. Typology and English Medieval Literature (New York: AMS, 1992), pp. 141-48.
In terms of medieval Christian thought, wherein conversion to Christianity was viewed as gradual rather than instant, the life of Griselda typologically represents the Christian soul, though Chaucer may not consciously have connected the two while…
Shoaf, R[ichard] A[llen].
Hugh T. Keenan, ed. Typology and English Medieval Literature (New York: AMS, 1992), pp. 149-68.
Repeated imagery of falconry's mew, derived from typology and folklore, symbolize the poem's vision of mutability in human affairs. Especially as they relate to the character of Troilus, these images represent the Neo-Platonic notion of the soul as…
DuVal, John, trans. Intro. and notes by Raymond Eichmann.
Binghamton, N.Y.: Medieval and Renaissance Texts & Studies, 1992.
An anthology of twenty French fabliaux, translated into English verse. Includes historical introduction, brief headnotes to each tale, and a selective bibliography of fabliau materials.
Despite critical efforts to prove that the trip to Canterbury was a four-day journey, the geographical and temporal inconsistencies within the CT defy this kind of realism. Instead, the journey took place on one "anagogical day"--April 18, 1394. …
Ellis, Roger.
Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester 74 (1992): 121-39.
Examines the "voices" of the narrators of SNT, MerT, and WBP. In understanding voices, it is important to remember two levels: the immediate and the inherited past. The three tales exhibit plain speaking in different ways.
Emmerson, Richard K., and Ronald B. Herzman.
Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1992.
Examining Joachim of Fiore, Bonaventure's Legenda Maior, Roman de la rose, Dante's Commedia, and CT, Emmerson and Herzman argue that, in eschatological perspective, CT exemplifies typical medieval apocalyptic thought. The general structure,…
Fisher, John H.
Medieval Perspectives 4-5 (1989-90): 1-24.
CT exhibits tension between the corporate nature of medieval society and the domestic impulses of an "inner-directed society," in which the emergence of the poet is an important aspect of assertion of the self. In GP, the narrator signals irony. …
Dor, Juliette, ed.
Liege: Universite de Liege, 1992.
A collection of twenty-six essays, fourteen of which address Chaucer and his works. Includes papers presented at a 1990 conference at the University of Liege marking the retirement of Paule Mertens-Fonck. Each essay addresses women's issues in…
Brewer, Derek.
Juliette Dor, ed. A Wyf Ther Was: Essays in Honour of Paule Mertens-Fonck (Liege: University of Liege, 1992), pp. 30-40.
In Chaucer's works, the wide spectrum of Venus's portrayals, from mythographical Venus to planetary Venus, represents "some profound human problems in the relations of men and women" and contributes "significantly to the rich variety" with which…
