Not Yet: Chaucer and Anagogy.

Description: Explores aspects of anagogical reading practices and their relations with social prediction and prophecy. Reformation readers perceived predestinarian and prophetic themes in spurious Chaucerian texts, although Chaucer himself seems to distrust prophecy and certainty about the future. However, PardT is prophetic "in a variety of ways," reflecting Chaucer's fears of civic disruption that he anticipated when contemplating the breakdown of the sacramental system of penance. Also comments on anagogy in Julian of Norwich, "Piers Plowman," and "Pearl."

Alternative Title: The Biennial Chaucer Lecture. The New Chaucer Society. Nineteenth International Congress, July 16–20, 2014. University of Iceland, Reykjavık.