Arts of Possession: The Middle English Household Imaginary

Author / Editor
Smith D. Vance.

Title
Arts of Possession: The Middle English Household Imaginary

Published
Minneapolis and London: University of Minnesota Press, 2003.

Physical Description
xviii, 318 pp.

Series
Medieval Cultures, no. 33.

Description
Considers the household as a complex image central to understanding late-medieval England, exploring literary, historical, and economic representations for what they disclose about the "ethics of possession." Analyzes aspects of "Winner and Waster," "Piers Plowman," and other narratives. Reads FranT as the teller's "fantasy" of gentle behavior and the Franklin as Chaucer's exploration of the "interplay between display and reticence."

Chaucer Subjects
Franklin and His Tale.