What Chaucer Did to the Fabliau

Author / Editor
Rowland, Beryl.

Title
What Chaucer Did to the Fabliau

Published
Studia Neophilologica 51 (1979): 205-13.

Description
Like his French predecessors, Chaucer employs a commonplace detail and dialogue to impart to his fabliaux a sense of domestic, small town, and rural life. However, while unity in design and treatment characterize the French fabliaux, Chaucer's are disjunctive and digressive. He juxtaposes discrete materials, thereby interrupting continuous development. Recurring patterns of imagery and irony help to conceal the disjunctive character of the stories.

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