Two 'English Fabliaux': Chaucer's 'Merchant's Tale' and 'Shipman's Tale' and Italian 'Novelle'

Author / Editor
Heffernan, Carol F.

Title
Two 'English Fabliaux': Chaucer's 'Merchant's Tale' and 'Shipman's Tale' and Italian 'Novelle'

Published
Neophilologus 90 (2006): 333-49.

Description
Heffernan discusses the nature, origins, and development of Italian "novelle"; Boccaccio's innovations with the form; and the likelihood that Chaucer had direct knowledge of The Decameron. Argues that the influence of Italian novelle generally, and of The Decameron specifically, on MerT and ShT has been underestimated.

Chaucer Subjects
Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations.
Merchant and His Tale.
Shipman and His Tale.