Cadden, Joan.
Medievalia et Humanistica 14 (1986): 157-71.
Medical and scientific authors discussed sexual matters with clinical frankness. Chaucer's Merchant sees Constantinus Africanus as "a pander, a peddler of love potions."
Kears, Carl, and James Paz, eds.
London: King's College London Centre for Late Antique and Medieval Studies, 2016.
Includes essays that seek to redefine science fiction as literature that combines interests in both science and literature. Also examines the use of the medieval in modern fantasy texts. For three essays that pertain to Chaucer, search for Medieval…
Kears, Carl, and James Paz.
Carl Kears and James Paz, eds. Medieval Science Fiction (London: King's College London Centre for Late Antique and Medieval Studies, 2016), pp. 3-38.
Argues for a consideration of texts as "science fiction," even if they were produced before the Enlightenment, and further defines the genre to include any text that combines interests in science and fiction. Includes comparison of CYT to Shelley's…
Damico, Helen, ed.
New York and London: Garland, 1998.
Thirty-two essays by various authors, sketching the biographies and intellectual achievements of scholars who have helped shape medieval studies. Of greatest interest to Chaucerians are the essays on Frederick J. Furnivall (by Derek Pearsall),…
Stevens, John.
London: Hutchinson University Library, 1973
Describes the plots and concerns of medieval romances, especially those produced in France and England, seeking to characterize the genre and demonstrate its "pervasiveness" in medieval culture. Identifies a number of recurrent motifs, including…
Knapp, James F., and Peggy A. Knapp.
Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2017.
Analyzes the aesthetics of medieval romance in light of the philosophies of G. W. Leibniz, Immanuel Kant, and Hans-Georg Gadamer, exploring and explaining the "pleasurable seriousness" (for modern and medieval audiences) of the "Lais" of Marie de…
Sylvester, Louise M.
New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008.
Investigates how medieval romances have shaped heterosexual gender roles, studying the role of language in constructing sexuality. In close readings of TC, MilT, and MerT, Sylvester analyzes "transitivity" and maps dialogue between male and female…
Crane, Susan.
Studies in the Age of Chaucer 12 (1990): 47-63.
While critics have recently emphasized classicizing influences, KnT's portrayal of courtship, its enigmatic heroine's resistance to courtship, and the marvels in Diana's temple should be understood in light of romance conventions. Chaucer's…
Troyan, Scott D. ed.
New York and London : Routledge, 2004.
Ten essays by various authors, addressing topics such as rhetorical tradition, accessus, and handbooks, especially their influence on Middle English literature. For six essays that pertain to Chaucer, search for Medieval Rhetoric: A Casebook under…
Camargo, Martin.
New Medieval Literatures 9 (2007): 41-62.
Describes the role of performance, or delivery, in medieval rhetorical and grammatical treatises, and exemplifies the evidence of Chaucer's concern with rhetoric and performance in CT--in the Host's remarks to the Clerk, the role-playing of the…
Surveys rhetorical traditions in fourteenth-century England and assesses the impact of "artes poetriae," "grammaticae," and "praedicandi" on Chaucer's poetry generally and on NPT in particular. Includes appendixes of medieval rhetorical terms (with…
Tuggle, Thomas Terry.
Dissertation Abstracts International 35 (1975): 7882A-83A
Rhetorical devices in Chaucer's early poems aid description, lend emphasis, achieve amplification or brevity, and mark transitions. The figures iintensify the utterances of characters, and characterize persons, concepts, or objects.
Stevenson, Kay Gilliland.
Michel Bitot, ed., with Roberta Mullini and Peter Happe. Divers Toyes Mengled: Essays on Medieval and Renaissance Culture in Honour of Andre Lascombes (Tours: Universite Francois Rabelais, 1996), pp. 27-42.
Explores literary and historical contexts that complicate reception of ABC, including works by Jean de Meun, Guillaume de Deguileville, and John Lydgate. Chaucer's stand-alone translation initiates an immediacy with its audience that is not apparent…
Coleman, Janet.
New York: Columbia University Press, 1981.
Deals with verse and prose in Middle English, Latin, and Anglo-Norman as literary evidence of the rise of literacy and social mobility. Most literary works aimed at reform and edification in Christian ethical behavior rather than at entertainment. …
This review article assesses four recent books on how the Middle Ages responded to classical literature: Ralph Hexter's "Ovid and Medieval Schooling," the essay collection "Lectures medievales de Virgile," Jean-Charles Huchet's "Le Roman medieval"…
Fredell, Joel Willis.
Dissertation Abstracts International 47 (1986): 895A.
Both the portraits of GP and the representations of the Deadly Sins in "Piers Plowman" (B text of "Visio") achieve a new form, combining the traditional with "individualized details." Such a pattern is analogous to the development of late-Gothic…
Donaldson, E. Talbot.
Speaking of Chaucer (New York: Norton, 1970), pp.164-74.
Focuses on the single use of the word "sin" in MilT (1.3589), suggesting that the Tale and, more generally, the "best medieval literature" do not "necessarily have anything to do with sin," but offer "joy to the reader."
Chaganti, Seeta, ed.
New York: Fordham University Press, 2012.
Essays emphasize the importance of poetry and poetics in the "formation of social structures, actions, and utterances" in this festschrift for Penn R. Szittya. For two essays that pertain to Chaucer, search for Medieval Poetics and Social Practice…
Howard, Donald R.
Medievalia et Humanistica 3 (1972): 99-115.
Gauges the value of historicist approaches to medieval literary study, compared with other approaches, suggesting that a phenomenological approach aligned with humanistic awareness of individual consciousness is desirable. Recurrent references to…
Gerber, Amanda J.
New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.
Explores the political motivations of Ovid's "frame narratives" and how they appealed to and influenced medieval writers. For a chapter on Chaucer see Chapter 4, "Clerical Expansion and Narrative Diminution in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales."
Holley, Linda Tarte.
Chaucer Review 21 (1986): 26-44.
Optics as expounded by Roger Bacon provided the theory of perspective and radiating lines; architecture and manuscript illumination provided the technique of viewing scenes and personages through a frame. In TC, there are physical, verbal,…
Kirk, Jordan.
New York: Fordham University Press, 2021.
Examines works by Priscian, Boethius, Augustine, Walter Burley, and Chaucer,
to explore how fourteenth-century writers understood "possibilities in language" and "transformed these accounts into new forms, and practices of non-signification."…
Examines connection between "language and cultural identity" and claims that Chaucer mocks "Alexander's 'storie' as 'commune' "in MkT. Analyzes how Latin, French, and English Alexander narratives were read, and rewritten, in medieval literature…
Black, Nancy B.
Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2003.
In narratives of falsely accused queens, the queens frequently undergo periods of exile that refine their souls through poverty and suffering. Black compares the Constance narratives by Nicholas Trevet, Gower, and Chaucer, examining each version in…
