Carnival and 'The Canterbury Tales': 'Only Equals May Laugh'

Author / Editor
Cook, Jon.

Title
Carnival and 'The Canterbury Tales': 'Only Equals May Laugh'

Published
David Aers, ed. Medieval Literature (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1986), pp. 169-91.

Description
CT shows extensive evidence of "Carnival" (Bakhtin) influence. GP, Miller, and Host show evidence of the carnivalesque approach to life. The clerk, on the other hand, reasserts "official values." CT offers the first English model of secular and social freedom.

Alternative Title
Medieval Literature: Criticism, Ideology, and History.

Chaucer Subjects
Canterbury Tales--General.