Translations and Imitations of Medieval Texts in Neoclassicism: Chaucer as a 'Rough Diamond' That 'Must First Be Polished ere He Shines'

Author / Editor
Maciulewicz, Joanna.

Title
Translations and Imitations of Medieval Texts in Neoclassicism: Chaucer as a 'Rough Diamond' That 'Must First Be Polished ere He Shines'

Published
Liliana Sikorska, ed., with the assistance of Joanna Maciulewicz. Medievalisms: The Poetics of Literary Re-Reading (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2008), pp. 113-31.

Series
Studies in English Medieval Language and Literature, no. 21

Description
Maciulewicz examines Neoclassical rewritings of medieval texts, focusing on Dryden's and Pope's reworking of Chaucer (CT and HF). Close readings show that eighteenth-century revisions seek to elevate Chaucer to promote national literature and, simultaneously, to polish and/or modernize Chaucer's language for contemporary readers. These rewritings of Chaucer "reveal as much about the time in which they were created as about Chaucer's own period."

Contributor
Sikorska, Liliana, ed.

Alternative Title
Medievalisms: The Poetics of Literary Re-Reading.

Chaucer Subjects
Facsimiles, Editions, and Translations
House of Fame
Canterbury Tales--General