The Invention of Style.

Published: Studies in the Age of Chaucer 41 (2019): 33-71, A1-A12; 6 b&w illus.

Description: Combines computer-assisted stylometry and close reading to explore Chaucer’s concept of style and his uses of the word "style" itself as they compare with those of John Gower and John Lydgate. Clarifies aspects of stylometric analysis, distinguishes between Chaucer's "high" style and Gower's "plain" style, and argues that in seeking to assert his own style Lydgate is particularly important in the "development of the notion of literary style" in English.

Alternative Title: The Biennial Chaucer Lecture. The New Chaucer Society Twenty-First International Congress, July 10-15, 2018. Victoria University, Toronto, Canada.

Chaucer Subjects: Style and Versification
Language and Word Studies
Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations
Chaucer's Influence and Later Allusion