Perpetual Motion: Alchemy and the Technology of the Self

Author / Editor
Patterson, Lee.

Title
Perpetual Motion: Alchemy and the Technology of the Self

Published
Studies in the Age of Chaucer 15 (1993): 25-57.

Description
Assesses alchemy as a verbal and social practice in Chaucer's day, arguing that alchemical discourse raised with particular intensity the problem of the verbal representation of truth; alchemical study helped undermine the clerical monopoly on learning. In CYPT, Chaucer represents "modern" awareness of subjectivity in the face of the determinants of language and society.

Alternative Title
Biennial Chaucer Lecture, the New Chaucer Society, Eighth International Congress, 1-4 August 1992, University of Washington, Seattle.

Chaucer Subjects
Canon's Yeoman and His Tale.