Affective Criticism, the Pilgrimage of Reading, and Medieval English Literature
- Author / Editor
- Travis, Peter W.
Affective Criticism, the Pilgrimage of Reading, and Medieval English Literature
- Published
- Laurie A. Finke and Martin B. Shichtman, eds. Medieval Texts and Contemporary Readers (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1987), pp. 201-15.
- Description
- Argues that modern theoretical discourse, in particular affective criticism--reader-response theory and "rezeptions-asthetik" (which "emphasizes the historicity and alterity of literary works from the past")--derives from and is applicable to medieval literary aesthetics.
- In TC 3, Chaucer, recognizing that his text will "generate as many different readings as there are listeners in his audience," invites the reader to rewrite the story. Chaucer's poetry is self-reflexive, and "the pilgrimage model can be shifted from literary protagonist to literary reader."
- Though ManT is a "gross burlesque" of wisdom literature, its topics are appropriate to repentance: "the power of words, vicious conduct, the effect of truth-telling, physical metamorphosis, poetry, rage, self-delusion."
- Alternative Title
- Medieval Texts and Contemporary Readers.
- Chaucer Subjects
- Background and General Criticism.
- Troilus and Criseyde.
- Manciple and His Tale.