Fragments and Assemblages: Forming Compilations of Medieval London

Description: In a chapter entitled "Constructing Compilations of Chaucer's 'Canterbury Tales'," considers CT through the lens of Walter Benjamin's historical materialism. Teases out three narrative threads by means of "compilational construction." The KnT-MilT-RvT-CkT and the KnT-SqT-Th threads dismantle the relevance of the courtly ideal as a relevant construct in the sociopolital milieu of late fourteenth-century London. The KnT-FranT thread disrupts this pessimism with a partial reinstatement of courtly imitation as productive of social harmony but fails to right the balance entirely.

Chaucer Subjects: Canterbury Tales--General; Knight and His Tale; Miller and His Tale; Reeve and His Tale; Cook and His Tale; Squire and His Tale; Tale of Sir Thopas; Franklin and His Tale