The Idea of the Vernacular: An Anthology of Middle English Literary Theory, 1280-1520.
- Author / Editor
- Wogan-Browne, Jocelyn, Nicholas Watson, Andrew Taylor, and Ruth Evans, eds.
The Idea of the Vernacular: An Anthology of Middle English Literary Theory, 1280-1520.
- Published
- University Park : Pennsylvania State University Press; Exeter: University of Exeter Press 1999.
- Physical Description
- xviii, 506 pp.
- Series
- Exeter Medieval Texts and Studies
- Description
- Anthologizes fifty-seven excerpts from works written in Middle English, most of them prologues, documenting the nature and history of "Middle English literary theory," i.e., the "sophisticated and still-influential traditions of theorizing . . . about hermeneutics and rhetoric . . . pedagogy and literacy, language, linguistics, and textuality, historiography, fiction, genre, translation and much else." Accompanied by introductions, notes, glosses, and commentary, the excerpts are arranged in three groups: "Authorizing Text and Writer" (includes the "Envoie." to Ven, pp. 26-28 ), "Addressing and Positioning the Audience," and "Models and Images of the Reading Process." The volume includes a comprehensive index with many references to Chaucer, a glossary of the terminology of literary theory, and five essays on vernacularization. For two essays that pertain to Chaucer, search for The Idea of the Vernacular under Alternative Title.
- Contributor
- Watson, Nicholas, ed.
Taylor, Andrew, ed.
Evans, Ruth, ed.
- Chaucer Subjects
- Language and Word Studies
The Complaint of Venus
Facsimiles, Editions, and Translations