Nebuchadnezzer's Children: Conventions of Madness in Middle English Literature.

Author / Editor
Doob, Penelope B. R.

Title
Nebuchadnezzer's Children: Conventions of Madness in Middle English Literature.

Published
New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1974.

Physical Description
vii, 247 pp.

Description
This study of madness in Middle English literature generally mentions Chaucer only in passing, but includes a brief discussion of a "pedestrian and highly traditional account of Nebuchadnezzer" in MkT. Clearly based on the Book of Daniel, the account is marked "by several factual errors" and "clear echoes" of the commentary tradition; it's "dullness and conservatism are pardonable only if they are seen as an attempt to fit tale to teller."

Chaucer Subjects
Monk and Hisd Tale
Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations