Intention and Interpretation in the 'Book of the Duchess'

Author / Editor
Ferster, Judith.

Title
Intention and Interpretation in the 'Book of the Duchess'

Published
Criticism 22 (1980): 1-24.

Description
The primary mode of discourse, conversation, emphasizes the difficulty of communication. BD oscillates between two opposing views: the existence and dissolution of the self and the other. Chaucer gives the reader an awareness of the conditions that shape interaction; language may cure this isolation or intensify it. BD is an account of successful communication between the Black Knight and the narrator.

Chaucer Subjects
Book of the Duchess.