Studies in the Age of Chaucer 41 [Edited book]

Contemporary Chaucer across the centuries

For 700 years, Geoffrey Chaucer has spoken to scholars and amateurs alike. How does his work speak to us in the twenty-first century? This volume provides a unique vantage point for responding to this question, furnished by the pioneering scholar of medieval literary studies, Stephanie Trigg: the symptomatic long history. While Trigg's signature methodological framework acts as a springboard for the vibrant conversation that characterises this collection, each chapter offers an inspiring extension of her scholarly insights. The varied perspectives of the outstanding contributors attest to the vibrancy and the advancement of debates in Chaucer studies: thus, formerly rigid demarcations surrounding medieval literary studies, particularly those concerned with Chaucer, yield in these essays to a fluid interplay between Chaucer within his medieval context; medievalism and 'reception'; the rigours of scholarly research and the recognition of amateur engagement with the past; the significance of the history of emotions; and the relationship of textuality with subjectivity according to their social and ecological context. Each chapter produces a distinctive and often startling interpretation of Chaucer that broadens our understanding of the dynamic relationship between the medieval past and its ongoing reevaluation. The inventive strategies and methodologies employed in this volume by leading thinkers in medieval literary criticism will stimulate exciting and timely insights for researchers and students of Chaucer, medievalism, medieval studies, and the history of emotions, especially those interested in the relationship between medieval literature, the intervening centuries and contemporary cultural change.

A Survey of English Literature. Maryland Public Television Teleclass Study Guide. Vol. I., 1973

This sample of the Teleclass Study Guide, Vol. I, consists of chapters 1-8, dealing with Anglo-Saxon literature and Chaucer.

The Journal of English and Germanic Philology, 2012

the Gawain poet's Middle English (I think I would have preferred this section to be part of the introductory matter, but that is neither here nor there). Perhaps the most welcome addition is a section with two brief Old French Gawain romances, Le Chevalier a l'Epée and La Mule sans Frein, newly translated by Borroff herself, with bracketed summaries of passages not translated verbatim. One might have wished for additional selections, such as the seduction passages in Yder, but having the complete story arc of a romance makes comparison to Sir Gawain richer. These are followed by a selection from The Alliterative Morte Arthure, the Christmas feast, which not only gives students another prime example of the alliterative tradition but provides an interesting contrast in narrative approach to the Gawain poet. The "Criticism" section is admirably broad and as up-to-date as one could reasonably expect, spanning essays from 1958 to 2001 and covering a variety of topics, from descriptive and stylistic technique to Christian themes, numerology, heroism and courtesy, and the role of the female characters. Again, one might carp that a favorite or important work was excluded (for instance, I would like to have an excerpt from Larry Benson's Art and Tradition in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight), but the selections are well chosen. They are followed by a historical chronology of Arthurian works, beginning with William of Malmesbury, mixed in with important literary and historical milestones up to 1400. The edition closes with a selected bibliography that also strives for breadth and currency, with historical and cultural, as well as literary, topics in books and articles from 1923 to 2006. Borroff's Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a welcome addition to the Norton Critical Edition series. The copyediting could have been a bit more careful (e.g., "La Chevalier" and the amusing "Studies in Medieval English Romance: Same New Approaches"), but, like all in the series, it is a handsome and readable publication. It can serve as a library resource for research papers in a Norton British Literature survey or as a textbook in courses on medieval literature, Romance, or Arthurian Legend. This translation remains a valuable entry into a work, as Borroff says, "crafted by an author whose vision of the human comedy we can still share and savor" (p. xxix).

The traditional narrative of 'medieval English literature' is based on philology, which traces a clear trajectory from Anglo-Saxon, to early Middle English, and then to the 'golden age' of Chaucer (often ending up there with a sigh of relief). This seems to provide us with

ELH, 1996

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Notes and Queries, 2003

The literary movement of this age dominated by four poets: William Langland, John Wyclif, John Mandeville, Geoffrey Chaucer. The movement was significant as it not only mirrored the stirring events but the works by these individuals, created awareness and impacted all classes of society.

This anthology makes available a selection of historical texts, cultural documents, and images in order to further readers’ thinking about Geoffrey Chaucer’s and other Middle English writers’ works. Several of the historical writings have been regularly mentioned in literary and historical studies while some are less familiar, for instance, the Anonimalle Chronicle’s account of the 1381 revolt and Henry Knighton’s description of the pestilence alongside Froissart’s description of a tournament Richard II held in 1390. The cultural documents are necessarily of many kinds, some again frequently noted in literary and historical criticism while others less so: parliamentary and local acts and trials, letters and testimonies, moral, homiletic, and educational tracts. The images are principally of manuscript pages and illuminations and, like the others, chosen for the student of Middle English literature.