Deconstructing 'The Canterbury Tales': Con

Author / Editor
Lawler, Traugott.

Title
Deconstructing 'The Canterbury Tales': Con

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. 83-91.

Description
Though deconstruction is a useful tool for breaking down troublesome parts of CT, its "wholesale use" in the interpretation of Chaucer's poetry does great discredit to the author. Deconstructive criticism tends to place any author in a position subordinate to the critic in its suggestion that the author is a slave to the subconscious implications of language.
Faith in the poet's ability to master the constructive and instructive uses of language should never be replaced by the inherent skepticism of deconstruction.

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

Chaucer Subjects
Canterbury Tales--General.