Chaucer and the Politics of Discourse

Description: A recurrent concern in Chaucer's works is the relation between society and discourse, a concern Chaucer shares with Italian humanists. In BD, Chaucer demonstrates the reciprocity of speaker and listener; the playfulness and lack of closure in HF indicate the "instability of discourse." In PF, the Ciceronian ideal of a discursively ordered society is challenged by the birds' cacophony.; TC examines how speech itself is a way of understanding human behavior and human interactions. The authoritative discourse of KnT is challenged by MilT and RvT and contrasted by Walter's hidden intentions in ClT. WBP demonstrates that discourse cannot be restrained. In SqT and FranT, speech misused and speech misunderstood are counterpointed.; The responses of the Knight and the Host to MkT--itself a rhetorical tour de force--indicate a "tension between discourse and its receivers." ManT indicates the necessity for poetic artfulness and perhaps for guile. Throughout his career, Chaucer emphasized the uncertain nature of social discourse by imitating orality and resisting closure.

Chaucer Subjects: Book of The Duchess.; House of Fame.; Parliament of Fowls.; Troilus and Criseyde.; Knight and His Tale.; Miller and His Tale.; Reeve and His Tale.; Clerk and his Tale.; Wife of Bath and Her Tale.; Squire and His Tale.; Franklin and His Tale.; Monk and His Tale.; Manciple and His Tale.