The Fiend and the Summoner, Statius and Dante: A Possible Source for the 'Friar's Tale'

Author / Editor
Brody, Saul Nathaniel.

Title
The Fiend and the Summoner, Statius and Dante: A Possible Source for the 'Friar's Tale'

Published
Chaucer Review 32 (1997): 175-82.

Description
The questioning of the fiend by the Summoner in FrT echoes "Purgatorio" 25. Both humans (Dante and the summoner) ask material questions of their supernatural guides; both guides direct the questions to the realm of the spiritual. The place of both humans in the afterlife depends on their ability to understand what they are being taught. Dante, however, ascends to Paradise; the Summoner descends into Hell.

Chaucer Subjects
Friar and His Tale.
Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations.