Chaucerotics: Uncloaking the Language of Sex in “The Canterbury Tales” and “Troilus and Criseyde.”

Author / Editor
Gust, Geoffrey W.

Title
Chaucerotics: Uncloaking the Language of Sex in “The Canterbury Tales” and “Troilus and Criseyde.”

Published
Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018.

Physical Description
xii, 232 pp.

Series
The New Middle Ages

Description
Assesses Chaucer’s "enticing eroticism and provocative perversity" as "clear and vital signs of premodern pornography." Historicizes terms such as “obscene,” “pornographic,” and “erotic,” and proposes “Chauceroticism” to describe the various ways the poet uses innuendo and detail to provoke, reveal, and conceal erotic action and pleasure in those of his works "where the act of coitus is presented in some detail." MilT combines pornography with humor; RvT with brutality; MerT with anti-chivalric sentiment; ShT with prostitution; and TC with "amorous 'jouissance'."

Chaucer Subjects
Background and General Criticism
Language and Word Studies
Miller and His Tale
Reeve and His Tale
Merchant and His Tale
Shipman and Hus Tale
Troilus and Criseyde