The Exegetics of Laughter: Religious Parody in Chaucer's Miller's Tale

Author / Editor
Johnston, Andrew James.

Title
The Exegetics of Laughter: Religious Parody in Chaucer's Miller's Tale

Published
Manfred Pfister, ed. A History of English Laughter: Laughter from Beowulf to Beckett and Beyond (Amsterdam and New York: Rodopi, 2002), pp. 17-33.

Description
Johnston assesses the interactions between religious allusion and satire in MilT, exploring the exegetical traditions of God's private parts, the Flood, and Absolon's use of the Song of Songs. The Tale generates laughter that ridicules religion and religious hermeneutics, yet its multilayered techniques simultaneously affirm exegetical thinking.

Alternative Title
A History of English Laughter: Laughter from Beowulf to Beckett and Beyond.

Chaucer Subjects
Miller and His Tale.