Visual Power and Fame in René d'Anjou, Geoffrey Chaucer, and the Black Prince

Author / Editor
Gertz, SunHee Kim.

Title
Visual Power and Fame in René d'Anjou, Geoffrey Chaucer, and the Black Prince

Published
New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.

Physical Description
xx, 227 pp.

Series
The New Middle Ages.

Description
Gertz reads HF in light of modern semiotic theory (Maria Corti, Umberto Eco, and Roman Jakobson) and medieval traditions of "fürstenspiegel" (mirror of princes), with particular attention to visual signs and codes. Contrasts Chaucer's techniques of "bringing the reader into a writerly position" with d'Anjou's uses of Arthurian topoi to claim fame for himself and with the performative efforts of Edward of Woodstock, the Black Prince, to claim fame. All three engagements with fame suggest that triggering the "quasi-platonic" idea of fame depends on tapping into popular awareness of common "trace narratives," even though tellingly Chaucer eschews familiar Arthurian motifs.

Chaucer Subjects
House of Fame.