Absent Narratives, Manuscript Textuality, and Literary Structure in Late Medieval England

Description: Scala studies absence as a structural feature of late-medieval English narratives, arguing that absence reflects the manuscript culture in which the narratives are preserved and that it is reflected in the critical and theoretical responses to these narratives. She focuses on BD, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, SqT, KnT, Gower's Confessio Amantis, and Malory's Morte Darthur, seeking "to analyze late medieval narrative across generic divides" and to track the development of the "self-conscious medieval narrator" by examining what is left out.; The incomplete stories alluded to in BD mirror the poem's textual uncertainties and the inauguration of Chaucer's poetic career. The absences and leaps of SqT echo out from MLE and reflect into Anel and KnT, epitomizing the reception of SqT and Chaucer's narrative technique. KnT is in several ways like SqT. KnT and SqT, the only father-son pairing of CT, embody an Oedipal story that is lacking in both CT and its origination.

Chaucer Subjects: Book of the Duchess.; Knight and His Tale.; Squire and His Tale.; Anelida and Arcite.