Browse Items (15542 total)

Addresses medieval writers' uses of saints' lives in Middle English romances of persecuted laywomen. "Le Bone Florence of Rome," "The King of Tars," "Emare," and MLT exemplify the influence of, and variations from, early pious romances. The…

By allowing the pilgrims no comment on the hagiographic discourse of the faceless, feminine "Second Nonne," and by allowing the Prioress to identify with the Word and the bearer of the Word, CT interrogates the doctrines on which it rests:…

Notes several oaths by saints' names in Chaucer.

Clarifies the life and tradition of St. Omobono as a "merchant saint" and "patron of businesspeople and entrepreneurs," incorporating discussion of "early literary representation of the merchant character in Chaucer and Shakespeare." Includes…

Discusses medieval manuscripts that combine materials from Walter Map's "Valerius," the "golden book" of Theophrastus, and excerpts from Jerome's "Adversus Jovinianum," focusing on the seven manuscripts that include the latter two, and showing how…

Demonstrates the "relationship in theme and imagery" between SNPT and CYPT and the "controlling design that links them artistically." Posits that SNT may have been based on a Gnostic version of the Cecilia legend, an alchemical allegory of the…

A translation into Modern English of SNT, based on The Riverside Chaucer (3rd ed.). Includes a short introduction and select bibliography.

Argues that in "Pericles" Shakespeare links Catholicism to English literary history "for the purposes of a complex investigation into the politics of literary history." Allusions to incest in the play, and allusions to Gower and to Chaucer's…

Examines whether NPT manifests a superficial or an intrinsic religiosity and treats NPT--a tale appropriate to the teller--as a religious allegory with Chauntecler as Man or Adam, Pertelote as Eve, and the fox as Devil.

Read as symptoms of a "childlike" individual "dealing with a number of psychosexual developmental issues," the Prioress's personal habits and narrative performance register anxiety not only about boundaries of the individual human body but also about…

Examines the "logic of sacrifice" that motivates actions in KnT, arguing that previous criticism "has done insufficient justice to the vile enjoyment and identificatory power" of KnT.

The logic of sacrifice (in particular, the sacrifice of the subject, Arcite) that permeates KnT produces a "jouissance," which the discourse of charity attempts to disguise.

Fradenburg theorizes a new combination of historicism and Lacanian psychoanalysis and explores the medieval idea of sacrifice and its role in cultural production. Linking ethics and desire, sacrifice is a way of pursuing and prolonging desire, even…

Among the handful of converted whores, Mary Magdalene is best known in late medieval writing through the homily "De maria Magdalena" (which Chaucer translated) and the Digby play. These works reveal remarkably literal physicality in which carnal…

Epstein argues for a nuanced understanding of money in SumT, reading its significations in light of the thirteenth-century Franciscan treatise "Sacrum commercium," medieval commercial practice, and deliberations on quality and quantity among the…

Using a new critical method, Heffernan examines the characteristics of the saint's life, sacred biography as historical narrative, important works and collections in the tradition, medieval attitudes toward virginity and chastity,rhetoric and the…

The Aeneas story as cliche is appropriate for the poem's subject: fame. The fame of Aeneas was important in Christian historiography, but ambivalent because of his betrayal of Dido. Biblical language and allusion rather than "the story of Troy or…

ClT is not a religious tale but a secular story "enriched with religious symbolism." The Tale is domestic, not cosmic; there is no indication of a providential plan; God is only evoked twice; Griselda's vow is clearly secular; and her reward is…

The sources for the Wife of Bath's performance as exegete--and the authorities she cites in her "Tale" (in particular Ovid,for the Midas story)--make clear that the underlying theme and conflict in WBPT concern "surface and substance, letter and…

Nine essays by various authors, an introduction by the editors, a commentary on Fleming's critical legacy by Steven Justice, and a bibliography of Fleming's publications. For five essays that pertain to Chaucer, search for Sacred and Profane in…

Contemporary documents concerning aspects of liturgical life indicate that the people of Chaucer's time were a "fervent laity served by a fervent clergy," notwithstanding the adulterous monk of ShT and Chaucer's corrupt Pardoner, Summoner, and Friar.

Contends that although "Pearl" and PrPT treat the Eucharist as orthodox, they nonetheless evoke religious debates concerning Lollardy and, relatedly, continental female mysticism. Argues that both the works feminize sacramental work, preach in ways…

Argues "that in early modern England the primary theoretical models by which poets understood how language means what it means were applications of
eucharistic theology." Opens with discussion of PardT, SumT, and Pearl "in the context of the debate…

Summarizes critics' attention to the Eucharistic references in PardT and explores how the Eucharist and the Mass as a reenactment of sacrifice underpin a number of details and images in the tale.

Parody is the key to understanding the relation between Chaucer's comedy and Christianity. Through parody Chaucer achieves high seriousness and high comedy. Parody of sacral sign and symbols in PardT and Marriage Group produces poetry that can be…