Reichert, Folker.
Archiv für Kulturgeschichte 104 (2022): 331-43.
Examines geographical and literary backgrounds to Chaucer's use of "Carrenare" in BD, 1029, identifying it with "Caramoran" (especially as found in Marco Polo and Mandeville), and suggesting it helps to separate Blanche from the vanities of the…
Chaucer's line "Betynge with his heles on the grounde" (LGW 863) echoes Geoffrey's description of Frollo's death ("Historia regum Britanniae" 9.9) and in turn suggests that Chaucer viewed Geoffrey's work with skepticism.
Chaucer's insertion of an imitation of a passage from the "Poetria nova," in place of the proper matter translated from "Il Filostrato," suggests Chaucer's disdain for the "rough haste" of Boccaccio's style and his "impetuosa manus" (TC 1.1067).
Beadle, Richard.
P. R. Robinson and Rivkah Zim, eds. Of the Making of Books: Medieval Manuscripts, Their Scribes and Readers. Essays Presented to M. B. Parkes, pp. 116-46.
Describes Glasgow, University Library, Hunterian MS U.I.1 (Gl) and its relation to its exemplar-Cambridge University Library Mm.2.5 (Mm). Spirleng was the sole scribe for the portion of Gl that depends on Mm,and preliminary analysis of variations…
Questions why Chaucer was not more popular with late-eighteenth-century "antiquarians and pseudomedieval dabblers," arguing that Chaucer had already been "co-opted" by earlier Enlightenment culture, "de-coupled" from his age, and valued for his…
Details two meanings of Chaucer's idea of "fame" in lines 1873-82 of HF: either living a "private, unnoticed life," or not looking for "glory as a poet." Compares Book II to Alexander's Pope's "The Temple of Fame."
In his apprentice years as a poet Chaucer must have spoken and written in French, the language of the court; hence he was commissioned to write BD on the reputation of this (now lost) French poetry. Possibly the memorial was written in English for a…
Nachtwey, Gerald R.
Essays in Medieval Studies 20: 107-20, 2003.
Nachtwey applies the "vertical" social relations of chivalry as understood by Geoffroi de Charny to MLT and FranT. As a perfect Christian, Constance "muddles" the chivalric ideal of a wife, and Dorigen's rashness makes her somewhat inconsistent with…
Cohen, Jeffrey Jerome.
Suzanne Conklin Akbari and James Simpson, eds. The Oxford Handbook of Chaucer (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020), pp. 547-62.
Discusses space and Chaucer's connections to Britain, suggesting first that FranT is central to "Chaucer’s relation to Britain," which "can be discerned in a throwaway
line" from the tale. Surveys the landscape of Chaucer's Britain through…
Examines late-fourteenth-century English attitudes toward crusading as background for Chaucer's view of the Orient as a form of the "Other." Evident in LGW, Chaucer's views reflect the prejudices of his age, which regarded Orientals as irredeemable.
Takano, Hideo.
The Society for Chaucer Studies and Koichi Kano, eds. To the Days of Studying Medieval English Literature: Essays in Memory of Professor Tadahiro Ikegami (Tokyo: Eihosha, 2021), pp. 217-30.
Argues that George Eliot inherits the way of communicating sorrows from KnT. In Japanese.
Takano, Hideo.
Koichi Kano, ed. Through the Eyes of Chaucer: Essays in Celebration of the 20th Anniversary of Society for Chaucer Studies (Kawasaki: Asao Press, 2014), pp. 438-44.
Drawing on the fact that George Eliot read BD when she faced the death of her partner, George Henry Lewes, this essay reflects on how Eliot receives the deep sorrow and "pathetic sympathy" of the knight in black in BD. In Japanese
Hyder, Clyde Kenneth.
Lawrence: University of Kansas, 1962.
Describes the life and professional career of George Lyman Kittredge, prominent critic of Chaucer, editor of Shakespeare's plays, and scholar of ballads, folklore, and more. Quotes from a number of personal and professional letters as well as…
Low, Anthony.
Chapter 5 in Anthony Low, The Georgic Revolution (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1985), pp. 155-220.
Two subsections of chapter 5 examine political and philosophical attitudes toward work in the Middle Ages and later eras, specifically the relationships among the revolution in agricultural technology, "the Protestant work ethic," and "modern…
Johnston, Andrew James.
Ingrid Kasten, ed. Machtvolle Gefühle. Trends in Medieval Philology, no. 24 (Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2010), pp. 246-59.
Assesses the "relationship between reading, space and emotions" in TC, focusing on the two scenes of book reading in the poem. Criseyde's reading in the paved parlor links her with "hermeneutical openness," while Pandarus's feigned reading of an old…
Hermann, John P.
Studies in the Age of Chaucer 7 (1985): 107-35. Reprinted in R. A. Shoaf, ed. Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde: "Subgit to alle Poesy: Essays in Criticism. MRTS, no. 104 (Binghamton, N. Y.: Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies, 1994), pp. 138-60.
In Pandarus's seduction of Criseyde in book 2 of TC and in Diomede's seduction of her in book 5, the gestures invite plural interpretations.
Windeatt, Barry
Medievalia et Humanistica 9 (1979): 143-61.
Chaucer frequently gives his characters gestures which are not in his sources in order more fully to reflect the inner lives of the actors. His most frequent gestures center on eyes and faces.
Considers the uses of gestures in Chaucer's poetry: "simplistic" uses in HF and PF, broad variety in CT, and the complex characterization of Pandarus in TC. Focuses on expressive movements and postures of body and face, along with laughing, moaning,…
Burrow, J. A. .
Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2002.
Explores the functions and significances of "non-verbal signs" (glancing, pointing, winking, hand-clasping, kissing, bowing, etc.) in medieval literature, concentrating on Dante's Commedia, the romances of Chrtien de Troyes, Froissart's Chronicles,…
