Afterword : On Allegory, Allegoresis, and the Erotics of Reading

Author / Editor
Gillespie, Vincent.

Title
Afterword : On Allegory, Allegoresis, and the Erotics of Reading

Published
Mary Carr, K. P. Clarke, and Marco Nievergelt, eds. On Allegory: Some Medieval Aspects and Approaches (Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars, 2008), pp. 231-56.

Description
Surveys distinctions between the restrictive "allegory of theologians" and the expansive "allegory of the poets," arguing that Chaucer's poetry is a radical form of the latter. Chaucer's works decenter the author and thereby pose "new kinds of imaginative syllogism" that prompt readers to various "wrong" readings and evoke parallels between political and readerly rebelliousness. Gillespie comments on HF, Mel, and the Host's response to ClT.

Alternative Title
On Allegory: Some Medieval Aspects and Approaches.

Chaucer Subjects
House of Fame
Clerk and His Tale
Tale of Melibee