Chaucer and the Problem of the Universal
- Author / Editor
- Delasanta, Rodney (K.)
Chaucer and the Problem of the Universal
- Published
- Mediaevalia 9 (1986, for 1983): 145-63.
- Description
- Chaucer's narrative style--describing a host of particulars in minute detail--was influenced by nominalist denial of the ontological existence of universals. But Chaucer's preoccupation with Boethian themes indicates a continuing interest in more traditional neoplatonic beliefs in the existence of universals. The tension between Chaucer's nominalist-influenced style and Boethian themes generates much of the ambiguity and irony in his work.
- Chaucer Subjects
- Background and General Criticism.