Politeness and Privacy: Chaucer's Book of the Duchess

Author / Editor
Burrow, J. A.

Title
Politeness and Privacy: Chaucer's Book of the Duchess

Published
Anne Marie D'Arcy and Alan J. Fletcher, eds. Studies in Late Medieval and Early Renaissance Texts in Honour of John Scattergood (Dublin: Four Courts, 2005), pp. 65-75.

Description
Explores the concept of "civil inattention" ("a desire not to intrude on privacy") as it helps to explain the behavior of the dreamer toward the Black Knight in BD. The concept is described in modern sociology and occurs in several medieval romances besides BD: TC, Chretien's Yvain, and the work of Malory.

Alternative Title
Studies in Late Medieval and Early Renaissance Texts in Honour of John Scattergood.

Chaucer Subjects
Book of the Duchess.
Troilus and Criseyde.