'The Nun's Priest's Tale' as Chaucer's 'Anti-Tragedy'

Published: Uwe Boker, Manfred Markus, and Ranier Schowerling, eds. The Living Middle Ages: Studies in Mediaeval English Literature and Its Tradition (Stuttgart: Belser, 1989), pp. 87-102.

Description: Chaucer's tragedies, e.g. TC, are too complicated to allow easy categorization; likewise, his comedy. The first English author known to use the term, Chaucer uses "tragedy" to establish commonality between TC and MkT, both of which relate to Bo, where the term also appears. Chaucer's only use of "comedy" in TC is also the first use of the term in English.; Kaylor examines structural and thematic relationships between MkT and NPT. MkT illustrates tragic reversals in fortune; NPT, a comic reversal. When MkT is interrupted, the Knight and the Host call not for a comedy but for something to make the heart glad.; Looking back toward tragedy, NPT is defined as an antitragedy or a burlesque tragedy. Both TC and NPT are infused with Boethian influence, the image of Fortune's wheel giving shape to both. Dante's "Comedia" provides a reference point for both TC and NPT.

Alternative Title: The Living Middle Ages: Studies in Mediaeval English Literature and Its Tradition.

Chaucer Subjects: Nun's Priest and His Tale.; Monk and His Tale.; Troilus and Criseyde.; Boece.