Browse Items (16319 total)

Offers a "step by step" reading of MilT "as it unfolds its argument.: Focuses on the crafting of the fabliau that refers to common elements of the genre and to Chaucer's specific context. Argues that the "artful carelessness of the Miller" is an…

Presents a novel modeled on CT that emulates Chaucer's frame-narrative collection of stories, "reinventing" his setting at a modern murder trial, and using a variety of narrative forms to represent the tales of the jury. The accompanying analysis…

Cites Bo and quotes portions of "The Former Age" as evidence of medieval transmission of ancient ideas about "about the happy age before the coming of civilization."

Argues that the various parts of NPT, an "expanded fable," are unified by a thematic exploration of true and false knowledge, then identifies instances where the tale mirrors "some elements of theme, structure, and style" of other parts of CT.

Identifies three aspects of NPT that differ from those found in its analogues ("Roman du Renart" and "Reinhart Fuch"), arguing that Chaunticleer' s belief in dreams, the frugal poverty of the widow, and the limited role of the fox produce a "shifting…

Asserts that the Nun's Priest "necessarily represents and embodies patriarchal Christianity" and, using Catherine Belsey's notion of an "interrogative text" (1980), argues that narrative and formal "inconsistencies" and "contradiction" in NPT cause…

Reviews seventeenth-century lexicographical interest in Scots dialect, and includes information about the extent to which Junius used Gavin Douglas's "Eneados" to understand Chaucer's vocabulary.

Argues that complex acrostic anagrams in PF reveal that it was written on the occasion of negotiations for a marriage between Lionel of Clarence and Violanta Visconti; identifies French analogues to this intricate practice, and helping to date…

Argues from internal and external evidence "that there is the strong possibility" that Chaucer's dream visions (BD, HF, PF, and LGWP) influenced five early works by F. Scott Fitzgerald: "The Offshore Pirate" (1920), "The Ice Palace (1920), "The…

Compares the "structures of feeling" in PrT and Gower's "Tale of the Jew and the Pagan," particularly their interrelations of pity, violence, justice, antisemitism, and affective response. Suggests that the two authors reworked their versions at the…

Argues that Shakespeare's works have more often been adapted to the screen than Chaucer's works because the latter have widely been considered to be "guarded by experts." Comments on the Troilus frontispiece, Jonathan Myerson's animated adaptation of…

Using concepts derived from Roland Barthes, argues that PF is both a "text of pleasure with its reflection of courtly culture" and a "text of bliss with its unconcluded conclusion."

Argues that the "modes of religious expression" in PrT are "vernacular" insofar as they are simultaneously canny and naïve. Using romance discourse to express religious orthodoxy, the Prioress challenges patriarchal "Latinate institutions," evident…

Compares and contrasts the uses of northern dialectical words and forms in the Ellesmere and Hengwrt manuscript versions of RvT, assessing J. R. R. Tolkien's evaluations of them (1934), and extending the discussion beyond northern forms to…

Assesses the "aesthetic status" of RvT, gauging its "crude vulgarity" in relation to its "moral coherence" where social/sexual pretentions are punished commensurately. Argues that Malyne is "notably pathetic," that the parson is the "evil genius of…

Facing-page edition of Rom (based on Thynne's edition) and its sources passage in the "Roman de la Rose," with the text of the latter drawn from various manuscripts that provide readings closest to Rom. Includes textual notes and an Introduction…

Compares ShT with Boccaccio's "Decameron" 8.1 and 8.2 in order to "see the two writers more minutely for what they are," arguing for Chaucer's "clear, almost measurable superiority" in matters of atmosphere, vitality, characterization, and moral…

One scribe included the "Tale of Beryn" in his copy of CT. The Prologue presents Chaucer's pilgrims after they arrive at Canterbury, and the tale is appropriate to its teller, a merchant. Argues that the "Beryn" author was "an intelligent and…

Approaches Mel as a mirror for princes, concerned with the power of lordship and the value and function of proverbs and didactic literature. Includes several classroom projects and questions for discussion.

Distinguishes between Chaucer the poet and Chaucer the pilgrim, and considers the "singularities" of Mel as clues to the "author's intention," reading the Tale as a self-aware "travesty" of Chaucer's relation with his wife, Philippa.

The stanzas known as "The Tongue" in the Findern manuscript use source material from Lydgate's "Fall of Princes" and Chaucer's TC to create a coherent poem that is consistent with the manuscript's broader themes and is indebted to the literary legacy…

Sketches the biography of Chaucer, and describes the place of WBPT in CT, summarizing its plot, major characters, major themes, and critical reception. Includes a selection of sixteen excerpts from previously printed critical studies (1970–2002),…

Adaptation of WBT in archaized modern English prose as a script for presentation as a radio drama, with seven characters (King, Queen, The Young Knight, Old Woman, 1st Woman, 2nd Woman, and Wife of Bath as voice-over narrator). Duration:…

Describes the "functional similarity" between medieval exempla of obedience and WBT and Gower's Tale of Florent, illustrating the similarity by discussing fair/foul transformation and inversion motifs in various exempla, and arguing that the…

Suggests that Shakespeare's title, "The Winter's Tale," adapts a possessive form associated with Chaucerian narratives--the x's tale--" and identifies similarities between the play and ManT. Focuses on the works' attention to linguistic…