Browse Items (16035 total)

Eight essays by different authors explore textual issues in light of recent developments in textual theory, thus questioning traditional notions of authors, texts, readers, and kinds of revision. For individual essays that pertain to Chaucer, search…

Critiques Root's and Windeatt's editions of TC for their lack of a clear and consistent theory of textual transmission and explores the problems of producing a valid edition of CT, exposing difficulties by examining the limitations of the Riverside…

Calls for an editing approach that attempts to replicate the contextual and intertextual aspects of manuscripts. Suggests various editions for various purposes, each sensitive to the radical differences of variants, the importance of the manuscript…

Challenges traditional distinctions between "auctor" and "scribe," associating their strict separation with New Criticism and affiliating it, in turn, with the methods of George Kane. Calls for a textual method sensitive to medieval notions of…

Surveys how editions of Chaucer, Gower, Langland, and others have banished the notion of authorial revision from their textual methods and replaced it with attention to scribal practice, thereby paralleling deconstructive criticism.

Acknowledges the Wife of Bath and Criseyde as different kinds of widows in the tradition of literary widowhood that underlies the Dona Endrina episode in Juan Ruiz's Libro de Buen Amor.

A collection of 100 essays on linguistic topics categorized as diachronic linguistics, linguistics and cultural studies, computer linguistics, varieties of English, and synchronic linguistics. For individual essays that pertain to Chaucer, search for…

According to Barber, "about half the examples of unelided word-final -e in CT were pronounced." A following study will determine in which words final -e was pronounced.

TC is Chaucer's only fully realized tragedy. Interrupted by the Knight to show its limitations, MkT satisfies only the "minimal medieval expectations" of the genre, lacking elevated subject matter. Kaylor explores the term "tragedy" by reference to…

Examines the important role of rhetorical figures--particularly repetition and contrast--in the meaning, the structure, and the description of characters in NPT, BD, and TC.

Uses TC as a tests case to reinforce Otto Funke's argument that "gan" is a structural marker, noting its relations with sequencing adjectives.

Compares Chaucer's poetry and the so-called Peasants' Revolt of 1381, demonstrating their common unexpectedness, extremism, touches of conservatism, and uniqueness. As is clear from his treatment of the Revolt in NPT, Chaucer was not a political…

Critics' resistence to sexual wordplay in medieval texts such as Chaucer's TC and CT stems not only from a radical difference between medieval and modern standards of good taste, but also from the critics' desire to repress unsettling textual…

Based on Nietzsche's epistemology, the essay discusses Chaucer's use of multiple perspective in PF, TC, and NPT as the poet's instrument for encouraging his readers to reflect on the multiplicity of their experiences.

In KnT, neither the narrator nor the characters comprehend the ideal of courtly love. In BD, Chaucer depicts it fully; in TC, he reveal its weakness when confronted with reality. FranT reflects a bourgeois distortion of courtly love.

Addresses the features of poetic narrative that are distinct from prose narrative, concentrating on self-consciousness about poetic form, intertextual relations, and authentication. An introduction and separate chapters consider TC, The Faerie…

Considers TC as a narrative poem in relation to Boccaccio's Filostrato, exploring three narrative "designs" highlighted by the comparison: additive, goal-resistent dilation; patterned, goal-determining organization; and revisionary interpretation in…

The Prioress's duplicity has been constructed. Appealing to one or both of the codes by which we define her as a nun or a lady, she manages to invite excuses and build trust whenever mistrust is possible.

The pathology of Troilus shows conflict between his roles as warrior and lover, reflected in the artistic rendering of his dreams and emotional pain. His agony melds personal sorrow and traditional courtly suffering. Pandarus acts as a…

Surveys CT and contemporary works for their reflections of social turmoil. CT reflects Chaucer's views of social order as properly based on class structure and the ultimate goal of salvation.

Examines the polyphonic aspects of CT, following the theory of Bakhtin; regards CT as serio-comic and carnivalesque.

Once Harry Bailly loses control of the game unifying CT, those who remain playful and detached become winners. Both pilgrims and readers must reassess the real rewards.

Explores coherence of structure, theme, and character within the fragments of the CT. Balanced plots, oppositions of themes, and parallels of character unify the paired tales of Fragments IV, VI, VIII, and V. Rich in thematic and structural…

Hypothesizes that Mel, told by the Man of Law, was once the first tale in the Canterbury sequence, later replaced by MLT; KnT was placed first only in a third stage of revision. ParsP indicates Chaucer's initial plan: one tale per teller. He…

The final three fragments of CT are united in a purposeful pattern by reference to Jeremiah 6. Allusion to testing and failure suggests the alchemical metaphor, enabling correlations between the particulars of specific pilgrims and the generality of…