Wakelin, Daniel.
Vincent Gillespie and Anne Hudson, eds. Probable Truth: Editing Medieval Texts from Britain in the Twenty-First Century (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2013), pp. 241-59.
Discusses the importance of "corrections" in Middle English manuscripts. In particular, addresses scribal errors and corrections in the Ellesmere and Hengwrt manuscripts.
Comments on the critical reception of Manly and Rickert's "The Text of the Canterbury Tales" (1940), exploring underlying assumptions about textual theory and gender politics. Uses Tom Stoppard's play "The Invention of Love" (1997) to reveal…
Utz, Richard [J.]
Wladyslaw Witalisz, ed. "And Gladly Wolde He Lerne and Gladly Teche": Studies on Language and Literature in Honour of Professor Dr. Karl Heinz Göller (Kraków: Wydawnictno Uniwersytetu Jagiellonskiego, 2001)
Argues that John Koch ought to be considered one of the great editors of Chaucer's works, even though he is largely forgotten by Anglophone Chaucerians who downplay German contributions to the field.
Ruggiers, Paul G., ed.
Norman, Okla.: Pilgrim Books, 1984.
A collection of essays on the editorial practices of great editors of Chaucer: Caxton, by Beverly Boyd; Thynne, by James E. Blodgett; Stow, by Anne Hudson; Speght by Derek Pearsall; Urry, by William L. Alderson; Tyrwhitt, by B. A. Windeatt; Wright,…
McGillivray, Murray.
Florilegium 27 (2011 for 2010): 159-76.
Proposes that a "computer facilitated re-spelling of a reconstructed archetype" ought to be the basis for future editions of LGW, Anel, HF, PF, and BD because the textual situations of these poems are "precarious." The reconstruction would use the…
Pearsall, Derek.
Jerome J. McGann, ed. Textual Criticism and Literary Interpretation (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985), pp. 95-106.
Use of the Robinson second edition based on the Ellesmere MS has encouraged the neglect of many textual problems in critical studies concerning "unity" or "idea" of CT; Manly and Rickert's monumental edition is virtually ignored. Hengwrt is a vastly…
Blake, N. F.
Norman Blake and Peter Robinson, eds. The 'Canterbury Tales' Project Occasional Papers, Volume I (Oxford: Office for Humanities Communication Publications, 1993), pp. 5-18.
Surveys textual issues that confront editors of CT, presenting the issues as background to the "Canterbury Tales" Project. Considers problems of lineation, the incompleteness of the text, the role of the links, questions of early circulation,glosses,…
Referring to "The Wife of Bath's Prologue on CD-ROM" (Studies In the Age Of Chaucer 20 [1998], no.11), Blake concludes that Hengwrt should be used as the base text for the "Canterbury Tales" Project. He proposes three areas in which Hengwrt might be…
Moorman, Charles.
Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1975.
A pedagogical introduction to the practices involved in preparing a critical edition of a Middle English text, with commentary on paleography, the language of Middle English, and the processes of textual criticism. Includes reproductions of the…
Machan, Tim William.
A.N. Doane and Carol Braun Pasternack, eds. Vox Intexta: Orality and Textuality in the Middle Ages. (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1991), pp. 229-45.
Questions the role of orality in the recording and transmission of Middle English texts, suggesting that various attitudes and techniques of oral improvisation have left residues in these texts and that modern editors should use oral models. Draws…
Surveys the "editions and translations of Chaucer currently in print" (in 1965) and designed for college courses, commenting on their strengths and weaknesses.
Considers textual issues that pertain to the "Host stanza" at the end of ClT (4.1212a-g) and several passages in MkT and NPT: the "Adam stanza" (7.2007-14), the "Modern Instances" (7.2375-2462), and the short versus long versions of NPP. Discusses…
Horobin, Simon.
Norman Blake and Peter Robinson, eds. The Canterbury Tales Project Occasional Papers, Volume II (London: King's College, Office for Humanities Communications, 1997), pp. 15-21.
Demonstrates the dangers of over-reliance on Hengwrt, Ellesmere, or any limited number of privileged manuscripts in establishing the text of CT, arguing for attention to all available material.
Costomiris, Robert Douglas.
Dissertation Abstracts International 56 (1996): 4783A.
William Thynne, the first true editor of Chaucer's oeuvre, performed fewer duties for the royal household than has been believed; thus, he had more time for editing. Familiar with the three previous printings and with many manuscripts, he built on…
Machan, Tim William.
Studies in Bibliography 41 (1988): 188-96.
The textual problems of Bo are more complex than they seem. Chaucer used several source texts, including commentaries and French translations; his chief interest was to translate the "'Consolatione' tradition," not just the "Consolatione" itself. …
Niebrzydowski, Sue.
English: The Journal of the English Association 64, no. 244 (2015): 1–4.
A general introduction to the "Chaucer Reconsidered" special issue of the journal that focuses on the many genres in which Chaucer worked, as well as his primary topics.
Barrington, Candace, and Jonathan Hsy.
Literature Compass 15.6 (2018): n.p.
Emphasizes the global diversity of CT—settings, sources, influence, etc.--and asks "what underappreciated meanings in Chaucer's Middle English work open up through translation and adaptation." Summarizes the essays included in this special issue…
Barrington, Candace, Lisa Lampert-Weissig, Katie Little, and Eva von Contzen.
New Chaucer Studies: Pedagogy & Profession 2.1 (2021): 1–9.
Reports on contemporary cultural conditions for teaching medieval narratives about rape, and summarizes the contents of this issue of the journal. Includes brief comments on modern responses to “Cecily Chaumpaigne’s charges against Geoffrey Chaucer…
Lampert-Weissig, Lisa, Katie Little, Eva von Contzen, and Candace Barrington
New Chaucer Studies: Pedagogy & Profession 1.1 (2020): 1-5.
Describes the launch of a new electronic journal related to the study of Chaucer, "New Chaucer Studies: Pedagogy & Profession," and summarizes the contents of the inaugural issue.
Sauer, Hans.
Hans Sauer, Gisela Seitschek, and Bernhard Teuber, eds. Höhepunkte des mittelalterlichen Erzählens: Heldenlieder, Romane und Novellen in ihrem kulturellen Kontext (Heidelberg: Winter, 2016), pp. 225-51.
Introduces CT as one of the major accomplishments of English medieval literature, surveying information about Chaucer’s life and works and focusing on the range and variety of CT. Describes GP, Ret, the longer prologues, and each of the tales, and…
Explores the influence of CT on Spenser's "Faerie Queene," especially the Renaissance version of Chaucer's work available to Spenser in Thynne's edition. Includes a list of Spenser's references and allusions to Chaucer.
Chaucer uses "ingenu" irony (Muecke's term) in TC. Pandarus, the most prodigious user of proverbs, demonstrates the illusiveness and unreliability of proverbs. For all his proverbial wisdom, Pandarus, like the narrator, is inept in love. Proverbs…
