"We axen leyser and espace": Narrative Grace in Chaucer's "Franklin's Tale" and "Melibee."

Description: Assesses "self-referential reflections on storytelling" in MLT and Mel, focusing on how the "resistive narrative agency" of their female protagonists calls attention to "questions central to the literary enterprise itself," particularly through concern with forgiveness, the importance of grace, and devices of dilation as they "make space" for expanding narrative possibilities. Links these concerns with aspects of FrT, TC, WBT, and the Wife's role in MLE (in some manuscripts).

Chaucer Subjects: Franklin and His Tale
Tale of Melibee
Wife of Bath and Her Tale
Friar and His Tale
Troilus and Criseyde
Style and Versification