Smith, Warren S.
Warren S. Smith, ed. Satiric Advice on Women and Marriage from Plautus to Chaucer (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2005), pp. 243-69.
In WBP and FranT, the uses of Jerome's antifeminist treatise "Adversus Jovinianum" as source material are ironic. WBP presents a more centrist Augustinian tradition than does her acerbic predecessor, and Dorigen's lament prefigures the gentle…
Considers medieval depictions of old age as part of the tradition of "contemptus mundi," focusing on female old age. Treats Chaucer's Wife of Bath as the most individual and entertaining of the comic randy old women of medieval narrative, here…
Recent proposals that Alisoun and Jankyn may have murdered her fourth husband are analyzed and rejected. Their quarrel arises not from mutual guilt but from Jankyn's suspicions about Alisoun, and from his association of murder and female lust. Such…
Argues that details and attitudes depicted in WBPT and in the description of the Wife in GP influenced various aspects of Shakespeare's "All's Well that Ends Well."
Wood, Chauncey.
Robert Myles and David Williams, eds. Chaucer and Language: Essays in Honour of Douglas Wurtele (Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2001), pp. 33-43, 191-92.
In light of Reason's discussion of direct language in "Roman de la Rose," the Wife of Bath's euphemisms and circumlocution characterize her as unreasonable and a misuser of language.
Karras, Ruth Mazo.
Stephen H. Rigby, ed., with the assistance of Alastair J. Minnis. Historians on Chaucer: The "General Prologue" to the "Canterbury Tales" (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), pp. 319-33.
Compares the characterization of the Wife of Bath in GP with that found the WBP, claiming that Chaucer "is satirizing both the extremes of antifeminism and feminine self-authority." Focuses on sociohistorical challenges for medieval women, and…
Contains eight articles and a bibliography. In Japanese. For the essays that pertain to Chaucer, search for Wife of Bath (Shigeo) under Alternative Title.
Agbabi, Patience.
Transformatrix (Edinburgh: Payback, 2000), pp. 28-29.
Lyric poem in first-person voice, with recurrent allusions to the WBP and GP description of the Wife of Bath, including gapped teeth, five husbands, and a physical battle with husband number four.
Balliet, Gay L.
English Language Notes 28:1 (1990): 1-6.
The wife's attack upon her husband Symkyn at the end of RvT is not an accident as commonly believed. Rather, the action is a deliberate attempt to conceal her adultery.
Schuman, Samuel.
Studies in the Humanities 6.2 (1976): 12-14.
NPT establishes an idea of decorum or appropriateness as a philosophical/theological context for the marriage tales. The central themes of the tale is that happiness and virtue derive from recognizing one's place in the Great Chain of Being.
In Truth the reference to Vache is not to Sir Philip de la Vache but to Chaucer. "Vache, leve" translates the OF phrase "reis, vache!" which is (e)Chavsier spelled backwards. The reversal of letters points to a real conversion in Chaucer.
Nichols, Stephen G., and Siegfried Wenzel, eds.
Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1996.
Nine essays by various authors and a closing commentary address organization, inclusion, and definition of medieval miscellanies--Latin, French, and English. The essays were first presented at a colloquium at the University of Pennsylvania in 1993.…
Surveys Chaucer's references to dogs, showing that his depictions of the animal are generally "pejorative," following a tradition of denunciation by satirists, homilists, and the writers of romances. Argues that the whelp in BD 389ff. is not…
Coley, David K.
Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2012.
Discusses nominalism, speech, and power in ManT, along with speech and rhetoric in Gower's "Confessio Amantis," Langland's "Piers Plowman," and works of Hoccleve.
While considering how speech in narrative poetry may represent "a distinct category within linguistic discourse," Coley reads ManT as a Chaucerian interaction with William of Ockham's rejection of longstanding Augustinian "hierarchies."
Dor, Juliette.
Danielle Buschinger and Wolfgang Spiewok, eds. Etudes de linguistique et de litterature en l'honneur d'Andre Crepin. Greifswalder Beitrage zum Mittelalter, no. 5. WODAN ser., no. 20 (Greifswald: Reineke, 1993), pp. 123-33.
Surveys nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century French Chaucer criticism, from early appropriations of Chaucer into French literary tradition to recognition of his importance in anticipating the Renaissance.
Bowers, John M.
Chantilly, Va.: The Teaching Company, 2008.
Audio-visual recording of thirty-six lectures by Bowers (on topics ranging from the Bible to Tolkien and postcolonialism), illustrated with occasional still pictures and linguistic examples. One thirty-minute lecture (Lecture 17, "Chaucer--The Father…
Romps through the western literary canon, including commentary on CT and scoring it a 10 in Importance, 6 in Accessibility, and 9 in Fun; TC rates 4, 3, and 4, respectively. Distinguishes CT from the novel tradition, and summarizes, irreverently,…
Hinton, Norman (D.)
Nona C. Flores, ed. Animals in the Middle Ages: A Book of Essays (New York: Garland, 1996), pp. 133-46.
Comparison of the protagonist of "William of Palerne" with Chaucer's Troilus makes William seem "a paragon of decision," while Alisaundrine is like Pandarus in bringing lovers together.
Tremaine, Hadley Philip.
Dissertation Abstracts International 26.03 (1965): 2732A.
Edits the early modern Welsh play, "Troelius a Chresyd," with commentary on its relations with TC, Robert Henryson's "Testament," and early modern drama, treating the Welsh drama as a "secular mystery play."
Ainsworth, Jeanette Therese.
Dissertation Abstracts International 40 (1980): 4015A-16A.
The dramatic Welsh work written in Shakespeare's time is a unique and important contribution to the Troilus-Cressida tradition. The author eliminates any elements of plot, theme, or character from his sources (Chaucer's TC and Henryson's "Testament…
Zaerr, Linda Marie.
Evelyn Birge Vitz, Nancy Freeman Regalado, and Marilyn Lawrence, eds. Performing Medieval Narrative (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2005), pp. 193-208.
Zaerr explores the concept of "mouvance" (textual variation) as reflected in a performance of "The Weddynge," commenting on the process of performance and adaptation and tabulating variants between the manuscript of the poem and a recorded memorized…
