| Description |
xii, 469 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm. |
| Series |
Critical insights
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Critical insights.
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| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Contents |
On The Canterbury tales / Jack Lynch -- Biography of Geoffrey Chaucer / Judith Laird -- Paris review perspective / Benjamin Lytal for The Paris review -- Canterbury tales: critical reception / Dominick Grace -- Chaucer's inferno: Dantean burlesques in The Canterbury tales / Matthew J. Bolton -- A feminist perspective on The Canterbury tales / Rosemary M. Canfield Reisman -- Chaucer's translation of the fourteenth century / Lewis Walker -- Chaucer the pilgrim / E. Talbot Donaldson -- Chaucer the man / Donald R. Howard -- Art of impersonation: a general prologue to The Canterbury tales / H. Marshall Leicester, Jr.-- "A poet ther was": Chaucer's voices in the general prologue to The Canterbury tales / Barbara Nolan -- Chaucer's idea of a Canterbury game / Glending Olson -- Meaning of Chaucer's Knight's tale / Douglas Brooks and Alastair Fowler -- "And Venus laugheth": an interpretation of the Merchant's tale / Martin Stevens -- Figmenta vs. veritas: Dame Alice and the medieval literary depiction of women by women / Katharina M. Wilson -- Alison's incapacity and poetic instability in the Wife of Bath's tale / Susan Crane -- "The name of Soveraynetee": the private and public faces of marriage in The Franklin's tale / Cathy Hume -- Lumiansky's paradox: ethics, aesthetics, and Chaucer's "Prioress's tale" / Greg Wilsbacher -- Bodies of Jews in the late middle ages / Steven F. Kruger -- Naturalism and its discontents in the Miller's tale / Mark Miller -- Pardoner's body and the disciplining of rhetoric / Rita Copeland -- Adventurous Custance: St. Thomas of Acre and Chaucer's Man of law's tale / Lawrence Warner -- Chaucer and the absent city / David Wallace -- Illustrated eighteenth-century Chaucer / Alice Miskimin. |
| Summary |
It would be impossible to exaggerate the influence, popularity, and prestige of The Canterbury Tales. Considered one the English language's most masterful works, Geoffrey Chaucer's series of tales has managed to stay relevant and prominent for more than six hundred years. by combining sharp wit with an acute awareness of human nature, Chaucer produces some of literature's most unforgettable characters, such as the Wife of Bath, the Knight, the Miller, and the Prioress. Though he intended to give each of his thirty characters four tales, Chaucer left his great work largely unfinished. Nevertheless, the twenty-four narratives that make up The Canterbury Tales stand complete as an artful array of stories that critique and satirize fourteenth-century English society. Accessible to first-time readers and Chaucerians alike, this volume provides an enjoyable approach to the complexities of The Canterbury Tales, with expert discussions of the stories that have enraptured, stunned, and enlightened six centuries of readers. Edited and with an introduction by Jack Lynch, Associate Professor of English at Rutgers University, it presents original essays along with classic and contemporary criticism to provide a unique insight into Chaucer's richly layered tales. Lynch's introduction describes the image of Chaucer as seen through the eyes of familiar poets such as Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Matthew Arnold. In highlighting the density of The Canterbury Tales, Lynch points out that the interpretations of Chaucer's work are both extensive and infinite. A biographical sketch of Geoffrey Chaucer by Judith Laird follows, along with a perspective by Benjamin Lytal, who, writing for The Paris Review, outlines Chaucer's career as an author and the shaky reception of his work that preceded his exquisite collection of tales. Four original essays then provide an introduction to the background and key themes of the tales. Dominick Grace surveys contemporary criticism of the Tales, Matthew J. Bolton discusses Chaucer's ability to incorporate earlier classical works into his material while managing to keep his own writings original, Rosemary M. Canfield Reisman presents an overview of feminist readings of The Canterbury Tales, and Lewis Walker examines how the culture and events of fourteenth-century England influenced Chaucer as he wrote his masterpiece. Also included in this volume is a broad collection of previously published essays written by esteemed scholars. E. Talbot Donaldson, Donald R. Howard, H. Marshall Leicester, Jr., and Barbara Nolan discuss the narrative voice within The Canterbury Tales and the distinct figures of Chaucer the pilgrim, Chaucer the man, and Chaucer the poet. Glending Olson addresses the work as a kind of a game, reminding readers that the pilgrims tell their tales as part of a contest. Douglas Brooks and Alastaire Fowler begin the analysis of Chaucer's individual tales by exploring the organization and characterization of The Knight's Tale. Martin Stevens turns his attention to The Merchant's Tale and Chaucer's recurring use of irony, while Katharina M. Wilson digs further into the precise misogynistic occurrences within the work. Susan Crane continues with a feminist reading of The Wife of Bath's Tale, and Cathy Hume uses The Franklin's Tale to explore the challenges faced when a stable marriage finds itself in a tumultuous world. Greg Wilsbacher considers how modern readers can respond to the anti-Semitism of The Prioress's Tale, and Steven F. Kruger focuses on the representation of Jews and the physical body in the same. Mark Miller provides insight into the topics of gender identity and eroticism within The Miller's Tale. Rita Copeland discusses the rhetoric of The Pardoner's Tale and the sexuality of its teller, and Lawrence Warner inspects the intricacies of The Man of Law's Tale and its Christian background. David Wallace concentrates on the meaning behind Chaucer's choice to start the pilgrimage in Southwark rather than London. Finally, Alice Miskimin discusses the illustrated editions of The Canterbury Tales that began to appear in the eighteenth century, providing a new angle from which to see Chaucer's works. |
| Subject |
Chaucer, Geoffrey, -1400. Canterbury tales.
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Christian pilgrims and pilgrimages in literature.
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Christian pilgrims and pilgrimages in literature. |
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Tales, Medieval -- History and criticism.
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Tales, Medieval. |
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Canterbury tales (Chaucer, Geoffrey) |
| Genre/Form |
Criticism, interpretation, etc.
|
| Added Author |
Lynch, Jack (John T.)
|
| ISBN |
1587657236 (alkaline paper) |
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9781587657238 (alkaline paper) |
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