Chaucer, Boccaccio, and the Anxiety of Popularity

Author / Editor
Ganim, John M.

Title
Chaucer, Boccaccio, and the Anxiety of Popularity

Published
Assays 4 (1986): 51-66.

Description
Popular understanding of their works is a central issue in both Boccaccio and Chaucer. Boccaccio's urbanity and sophistication reflect the qualities of his cultured, mercantile audience. Chaucer (e.g., PardT) is only apparently more naive, working with the materials of popular culture but writing for a courtly audience.

Chaucer Subjects
Canterbury Tales--General.
Pardoner and his Tale.
Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations.