Bakhtin, Chaucer, Carnival, Lent

Author / Editor
Ganim, John M.

Title
Bakhtin, Chaucer, Carnival, Lent

Published
John V. Fleming and Thomas J. Heffernan, eds. Studies in the Age of Chaucer, Proceedings, No. 2, 1986. (Knoxville, Tenn.: New Chaucer Society, 1987), pp. 59-71.

Description
Examines the appropriateness and limitations of the "anthropological" approach in Chaucer criticism, specifically the "carnivalesque"--implicit in monastic satire, popular culture and folklore, goliardic parody, and the social dynamics of Chaucer's London. An understanding of "Bakhtin's notions of language and cultural exchange" ("polyglossia," theatricality, mixtures of styles, framing devices, and irony) "is necessary to supplement the appealing metaphor of carnival."

Alternative Title
Studies in the Age of Chaucer, Proceedings, No. 2 (1986)

Chaucer Subjects
Background and General Criticism.