Framing the Canterbury Tales: Chaucer and the Medieval Frame Tradition
- Author / Editor
- Gittes, Katharine S.
Framing the Canterbury Tales: Chaucer and the Medieval Frame Tradition
- Published
- New York, Westport, Conn., and London: Greenwood Press, 1991.
- Physical Description
- 170 pp.
- Series
- Contributions to the Study of World Literature, no. 41.
- Description
- In the traditions of Indian and Greek frame narratives, tensions exist between the framing story and the enclosed tales, although Western aesthetics promote tighter structure and more detailed characterization. Medieval framed narratives florished as long as multiplicity and variety were admired. Topics discusssed include CT, the Indian Panchatantra, Greek and Arabic aesthetics, Petrus Alphosi's Disciplina clericalis, and works by Boccaccio, Don Juan Manuel, Gower, Sercambi, and Christine de Pizan.
- Chapter six concentrates on how Chaucer suggests clear structure and design in CT and then blurs their outlines; CT retains feature of Arabic origins, especially openendedness and a variety of organizing elements.
- Chaucer Subjects
- Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations.
- Canterbury Tales--General.