The Medieval Tradition of Thebes : History and Narrative in the OF "Roman de Thèbes," Boccaccio, Chaucer, and Lydgate
- Author / Editor
- Battles, Dominique.
The Medieval Tradition of Thebes : History and Narrative in the OF "Roman de Thèbes," Boccaccio, Chaucer, and Lydgate
- Published
- New York and London : Routledge, 2004.
- Physical Description
- xix, 235 pp.
- Description
- Examines the Chaucerian treatment of Theban matter. Unlike Boccaccio's "Teseida," Anel represents Thebes as a viable urban center even after the siege, while KnT disentangles Theban from Trojan history and re-creates Thebes as a pagan site. Both texts reinstate Statius's fatalistic sense of a criminal Theban identity.
- In addition, TC dramatizes the failure of historical transmission and reception to avert tragedy. All three Chaucerian texts construct an intimate, subjective, multivalent portrait of Theban history that Lydgate attempts to re-envision in politically utilitarian terms.
- Chaucer Subjects
- Anelida and Arcite
- Knight and His Tale.
- Troilus and Criseyde.
- Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations.