Outdoing Chaucer: Lydgate's 'Troy Book' and Henryson's 'Testament of Cresseid' as Competitive Imitations of 'Troilus and Criseyde'

Author / Editor
Watson, Nicholas.

Title
Outdoing Chaucer: Lydgate's 'Troy Book' and Henryson's 'Testament of Cresseid' as Competitive Imitations of 'Troilus and Criseyde'

Published
Karen Pratt, ed. Shifts and Transpositions in Medieval Narrative: A Festschrift for Elspeth Kennedy (Woodbridge, Suffolk; and Rochester, N.Y.: D. S. Brewer, 1994), pp. 89-108.

Description
The relation of Lydgate and Henryson to Chaucer is anxious and competitive; their retellings of TC help canonize Chaucer but also subvert "his authority by criticizing or outdoing him." Lydgate associates Chaucer with Criseyde's falsity and "stands with Guido against Chaucer." Henryson acknowledges that Chaucer is one among many who have fictionalized the story, especially the character of Criseyde.

Contributor
Pratt, Karen,ed.

Alternative Title
Shifts and Transpositions in Medieval Narrative: A Festschrift for Elspeth Kennedy.

Chaucer Subjects
Chaucer's Influence and Later Allusion.
Troilus and Criseyde.