Chaucer's 'Retractions': The Conclusion of the 'Canterbury Tales' and Its Place in Literary Tradition

Description: Assesses Chaucer's Ret as an adaptation of rhetorical and literary conventions of prologue, epilogue, and literary confession, arguing that his uses of the conventions in both ParsP and Ret indicate that he is resisting traditional rejections of secular literature and that he is "viewing the problem" of religious versus secular poetry "with ironic and humorous detachment." Rejects readings of Ret that treat it as sincere autobiography.