Boitani, Piero.
Piero Boitani, ed. The European Tragedy of Troilus (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989), pp. 1-19.
In the earliest Troilus myths, Troilus is "not primarily a character but a 'function'": his murder early in the Trojan War is an "omen" of Troy's impending fall. In later works, Troilus's character is more fully developed, and his death--late in…
Boitani, Piero.
Piero Boitani, ed. The European Tragedy of Troilus (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989), pp. 281-305.
Summarizes the treatment and evolution of the Troilus myth from antiquity to the modern age, focusing on plot, the ending, and themes of love and death.
Thirteen essays on the development of the Troilus story from antiquity to the modern age, with emphasis on Chaucer and Shakespeare. For eleven essays that pertain to Chaucer, search for The European Tragedy of Troilus under Alternative Title.
Boitani, Piero.
Piero Boitani. The Tragic and the Sublime in Medieval Literature (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989), pp. 56-74.
Discusses links among eros, melancholia, and acedia as well as the tragic psychological dilemma of love in Petrarchan sonnets, Dante, and TC, especially in Chaucer's use of the Petrarchan sonnet "S'amor non e." The "oxymoronic essence" of TC allows…
Brewer, Derek.
Piero Boitani, ed. The European Tragedy of Troilus (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989), pp. 95-109.
Encased in a larger, comic vision of "potential human freedom and happiness," Troilus's tragic misfortunes acquire new meaning in Chaucer's TC, which is neither comedy nor tragedy but a "curious mixture" of the two.
TC reflects heterodox or heretical outlooks and religious division in its depiction of love as religion, its prescribing a morality based on love, its metaphors of preaching, its celebration of love's power, and its notion of false felicity.
Cook, Mary Joan,RSM.
Florilegium 8 (1986): 187-98.
"By developing an inner and outer Criseyde, by occasionally indicating a disparity between the two, by raising questions about her behaviour and usually acknowledging that he, the narrator, does not have the answers, (Chaucer) convinces the reader…
Cureton, Kevin K.
Studies in Bibliography 42 (1989): 153-84.
R. K. Root's theory of how the text of TC underwent authorial revision, thus resulting in a number of significant variants between the manuscript groups, has been challenged by Barry A. Windeatt (1984) and Ralph Hanna (1986).
Gleason, Mark J.
Medievalia et Humanistica 15 (1987): 161-87.
Treats the previously ignored commentary of Trevet on "The Consolation of Philosophy," which served Chaucer as the primary or sole commentary in his translation of Bo and which he drew for TC 3.
Hanly, Michael Gerard.
Dissertation Abstracts International 49 (1989): 2213A.
Supporting Robert A. Pratt's theory in SP 53 (1956) that Chaucer drew on a French translation of Boccaccio, Hanly explores parallels, both verbal and thematic; the likelihood of Beauvau as translator; and the possibility of Chaucer's familiarity with…
Heinrichs, Katherine.
Studies in the Age of Chaucer 11 (1989): 93-115.
Boccaccio's "Elegia di Madonna Fiammetta" and Machaut's "Jugement dou Roy de Behaingne" parody Boethius's "Consolation of Philosophy" as "a source of humor and as a means of characterization." Troilus's Boethian soliloquy (TC 4.960-1082) exploits…
Machan, Tim William.
English Language Notes 27.2 (1989): 10-12.
A comparison of TC 4.897-98 with Boccaccio's Italian suggests that more of the clause is Criseyde's quotation than is usually punctuated as such. Also, "sighte" may be a copying error for "right." The resulting text, corrected and repunctuated,…
Mann, Jill.
Piero Boitani, ed. The European Tragedy of Troilus (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989), pp. 219-42. First published in Cambridge Quarterly 18 (1989): 109-28.
Chaucer's dialogue, poetic "stage directions," and expansion of the wooing scene make his TC more "Shakespearean," or dramatic, than Shakespeare's treatment of the story. Chaucer's heroine is brilliantly drawn to show her inner movement from true…
Natali, Giulia.
Piero Boitani, ed. The European Tragedy of Troilus (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989), pp. 49-73.
Unlike earlier versions of the Troilus story, Boccaccio's "Filostrato" minimizes war and focuses on love. Yet, if Troilus is less epic and more verbally effusive than his predecessors, he still is not tragic. Boccaccio identifies with Troiolo early…
Near, Michael Raymond.
Dissertation Abstracts International 49 (1989): 3359A.
Characters' sense of identity emerges variously from the varying contexts in which the selves operate. In medieval literature, this sense of identity, allied to function rather than "object-self," is drawn through purpose; "his own romantic vision"…
Olsen, Alexandra Hennessey.
Geardagum 08 (1987): 1-12.
Critics have argued that Chaucer intended the reader to view Criseyde as a woman destined to be a whore, Diomede as an unscrupulous seducer, and Troilus as an ideal knight. But if a fourteenth-century view is adopted, Diomede can be viewed in a…
Pulsiano, Phillip.
Julian N. Wasserman and Lois Roney, eds. Sign, Sentence, Discourse: Language in Medieval Thought and Literature (Syracuse, N. Y.: Syracuse University Press, 1989), pp. 153-74.
TC explores the "breakdown of language as a vehicle for truth and...knowledge." According to Augustine, language can be redeemed in the Incarnation. Chaucer conveys the "idea of language as a mirror of the divine, and through language we…
Reichl, Karl.
Piero Boitani, ed. The European Tragedy of Troilus (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989), pp. 133-52.
In TC, philosophical terminology "provides a continual gloss on the text." A philosophical reading of the poem--free will versus determinism, fantasy versus reason--does not, however, detract from the poem's narrative, "an intensely moving story of…
Discusses Chaucer's narrative techniques in TC, focusing on two points of view: one intrinsic, in the relationship between the narrator and the story; the other extrinsic, between the narrator and the audience.
Shafik-Ghaly, Salwa William.
Dissertation Abstracts International 49 (1989): 3716A-3717A.
Shakif-Ghaly scrutinizes "Yvain" and TC for medieval "dispositio" through Genettian narratology and for "manifestatio" through Anglo-American theory. Despite differences between the texts, such an analysis brings out tensions of medieval authors and…
Torti, Anna.
Piero Boitani, ed. The European Tragedy of Troilus (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989), pp. 171-97.
Lydgate, true to his sources--Guido and Chaucer--sets Criseyde's infidelity and Troilus's death in the framework of the Trojan War. Henryson, however, focuses on the "fatal destiny," guilt, and ultimate self-awareness of Cresseid, going beyond…
Windeatt, Barry.
Piero Boitani, ed. The European Tragedy of Troilus (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989), pp. 111-31.
Drawing on classical and medieval sources, Chaucer's TC incorporates multiple genres, each representing its own view of experience. The resulting masterpiece is neither an epic, a tragedy, a romance, a chronicle, a lyric, nor an allegory but a rich…
Yoshimura, Koji.
Kansai University of Foreign Studies Journal 49 (1989): 19-42.
Shows that color expressions in TC are elaborately calculated to represent the characteristics of Troilus and Criseyde and that the color terms vary in almost every book.
