The Economics of Waste in the "Knight's Tale" and Late Medieval England.

Author / Editor
McKendry, Anne.

Title
The Economics of Waste in the "Knight's Tale" and Late Medieval England.

Published
Exemplaria 32.1 (2020): 32-50.

Description
Reads aspects of Theseus's stadium, tournament, and funeral arrangements in KnT as "performance of power" in response to the procession of his "regional rivals": Arcite and Palamon of Thebes, Emetreus of India, and Lygurge of Thrace. George Bataille's "economics of waste" is a lens through which Chaucer's depictions of "extravagant display and extravagant destruction" can be seen to reflect the poet's social and political landscape.

Chaucer Subjects
Knight and His Tale