Middle English Prologues

Author / Editor
Galloway, Andrew.

Title
Middle English Prologues

Published
David F. Johnson and Elaine Treharne, eds. Readings in Medieval Texts: Interpreting Old and Middle English Literature (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), pp. 288-305.

Description
Galloway examines the claims to authority--traditional and innovative--found in prologues to Middle English works, with special attention to Chaucer's HF, LGWP, GP, and other prologues in CT (e.g., WBP). The essay identifies four types of prologues in Middle English: the "redactor's prologue" (which emphasizes the writer's role as collector or compiler), the "testimonial" prologue, the "commentary" prologue, and the "literary autobiographical" prologue.

Alternative Title
Readings in Medieval Texts: Interpreting Old and Middle English Literature.

Chaucer Subjects
General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales.
House of Fame.
Legend of Good Women.
Canterbury Tales--General.
Wife of Bath and Her Tale.