The Disenchanted Self: Representing the Subject in the 'Canterbury Tales'

Description: Treating "impersonated artistry" and "unimpersonated artistry" in light of current theory in the human sciences, Leicester addresses the "dramatic principle" in CT, assuming the position that the "tales are radically voiced." Each is "an expression of its teller's personality and outlook as embodied in the unfolding 'now' of the telling."; Applying the theory that "narratores non sunt multiplicandi sine absolute necessitate" and recognizing Chaucer's "conspicuous textuality" (his self-conscious production of texts), the author maintains that "the voicing of any tale--the personality of any pilgrim--is not given in advance by the prologue portrait or the facts of history, nor is it dependent on them. The personality has to be worked out by analyzing and defining the voice created by each tale."; Drawing on social theory, psychoanalysis, and deconstruction, he analyzes "character" as a "subject...in language and discourse" in contexts of "self, gender, and society," especially in PardT, WBT, and KnT. Also treats GP Knight, Wife of Bath, Pardoner, and Chaucer the Pilgrim.

Chaucer Subjects: Canterbury Tales--General.; Pardoner and His Tale.; Wife of Bath and Her Tale.; Knight and His Tale.; General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales.