The Bureaucratic Muse : Thomas Hoccleve and the Literature of Late Medieval England

Description: According to Knapp, the "emerging lay bureaucracy at Westminster" is closely aligned with vernacular literary production and a major factor in understanding Ricardian and Lancastrian cultures. As is evident in the career and writings of Hoccleve, independent lay vernacular bureaucratic writing reflects contemporary poetic production and distinguishes it from earlier and later work. Hoccleve is less a genealogical follower of Chaucer than a generic product of cultural conditions that are both similar to and quite different from the cultures of Chaucer and later poets. Knapp examines Hoccleve's depictions of autobiography, gender, vulnerability, poetic usurpation, orthodoxy, and madness and explores aspects of his cultural status in relation to Chaucerian tradition.