Geoffrey W. Gust, Chaucerotics: Uncloaking the Language of Sex in the “Canterbury Tales” and “Troilus and Criseyde”. (The New Middle Ages.) Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018. Pp. xii, 332. $89.99. ISBN: 978-3-319-89745-5.

Speculum ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 95 (1) ◽  
pp. 252-253
Author(s):  
Cory James Rushton
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Canterbury Tales ◽  
Troilus And Criseyde ◽  
The Canterbury Tales

CHAUCER

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Derrick Pitard ◽  
Lindsey Simon-Jones ◽  
Krista Sue-Lo Twu
Keyword(s):  
Canterbury Tales ◽  
Troilus And Criseyde ◽  
The Canterbury Tales

Abstract This chapter has five sections 1. General; 2. The Canterbury Tales; 3. Troilus and Criseyde; 4. Other Works; 5. Reception. Section 1 is by Krista Sue-Lo Twu; section 2 is by Krista Sue-Lo Twu with additions by Lindsey Simon-Jones; sections 3 and 4 are by Derrick Pitard with additions by Lindsey Simon-Jones; section 5 is by Lindsey Simon-Jones.

scholarly journals Chaucer's Solar Pageant: an Astrological Reading of the Canterbury Tales

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Garth astrologer Carpenter
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Human Body ◽  
Canterbury Tales ◽  
Royal Court ◽  
Binary Oppositions ◽  
Knight's Tale ◽  
The Canterbury Tales ◽  
The Middle Ages

<p>This thesis proposes a correlation between the twenty-four Canterbury Tales and an external ordered system, namely the twelve signs of the zodiac, from which one might infer Chaucer's intended ordering of the Tales. While it is generally acknowledged that the Tales contain much astrological material, the radical suggestion here is that Chaucer wrote them as a means of fulfilling his intention, expressed in A Treatise on the Astrolabe, to write a fifth part of that Treatise, in which be would explain to his ten-year old son, Lewys, the principles of astrology. The zodiac comprises twelve signs expressed as six binary oppositions throughout nature. In creating the Canterbury Tales, the thesis claims, Chaucer employed in each Tale two of those binary oppositions, a quadratic structure, to express the interplay of tensions between its main characters. The zodiacal signs symbolise parts of the human body which serve as metaphors of human characteristics according to an astrological medical melothesia that was commonplace in medieval times. The melothesia thus acts as a code, enabling Chaucer to covertly communicate sophisticated astrological knowledge whilst presenting it simplistically to political and royal court contemporaries who would have formed the bulk of his readership. Chaucer makes two rounds of the zodiac, starting with the  Knight's Tale aligned with Aries (the head) replete with pagan astrological practices, completing the sequence with the Parson's Tale, aligned with Pisces (the feet), in which the pilgrims are exhorted to save their souls by repentance. The consistency with which the Tales in sequence give an emphasis to characteristics believed in the Middle Ages to be representative of the zodiacal sequence of signs is claimed to provide substantive evidence in support of one particular ordering of the Tales.</p>

IVChaucer

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lindsey Simon-Jones ◽  
Derrick Pitard ◽  
Krista Sue-Lo Twu
Keyword(s):  
Canterbury Tales ◽  
Troilus And Criseyde ◽  
The Canterbury Tales

Abstract This chapter has six sections: 1. General; 2. The Canterbury Tales; 3. Troilus and Criseyde; 4. Other Works; 5. Reception; 6. Pedagogy. Section 1(a) is by Krista Sue-Lo Twu and Lindsey Simon-Jones (additions); sections 1(b) and 1(c) are by Krista Sue-Lo Twu; section 1(d) is by Lindsey Simon-Jones; section 2 is by Krista Sue-Lo Twu; sections 3 and 4 are by Derrick Pitard; sections 5 and 6 are by Lindsey Simon-Jones.

scholarly journals Geoffrey Chaucer’s "The Merchant’s Tale", Giovanni Boccaccio’s "The Tale of the Enchanted Pear-Tree", and "Sir Orfeo" Viewed as Eroticized Versions of the Folktales about Supernatural Wives

Text Matters ◽  
2013 ◽  
pp. 42-57
Author(s):  
Andrzej Wicher
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Middle English ◽  
Canterbury Tales ◽  
Sir Orfeo ◽  
Middle English Romance ◽  
Pear Tree ◽  
Opposite Process ◽  
The Canterbury Tales ◽  
Latin Version

Two of the tales mentioned in the title are in many ways typical of the great collections of stories (The Canterbury Tales and Il Decamerone) to which they belong. What makes them conspicuous is no doubt the intensity of the erotic desire presented as the ultimate law which justifies even the most outrageous actions. The cult of eroticism is combined there with a cult of youth, which means disaster for the protagonists, who try to combine eroticism with advanced age. And yet the stories in question have roots in a very different tradition in which overt eroticism is punished and can only reassert itself in a chastened form, its transformation being due to sacrifices made by the lover to become reunited with the object of his love. A medieval example of the latter tradition is here the Middle English romance, Sir Orfeo. All of the three narratives are conspicuously connected by the motif of the enchanted tree. The Middle Ages are associated with a tendency to moralize ancient literature, the most obvious example of which is the French anonymous work Ovide moralisé (Moralized Ovid), and its Latin version Ovidius Moralizatus by Pierre Bersuire. In the case of The Merchant’s Tale and The Tale of the Enchanted Pear-Tree, we seem to meet with the opposite process, that is with a medieval demoralization of an essentially didactic tradition. The present article deals with the problem of how this transformation could happen and the extent of the resulting un-morality. Some use has also been made of the possible biblical parallels with the tales in question.

IV Chaucer

2019 ◽  
Vol 98 (1) ◽  
pp. 267-290
Author(s):  
Krista Sue-Lo Twu ◽  
Lindsey Simon-Jones ◽  
Derrick Pitard
Keyword(s):  
Canterbury Tales ◽  
Troilus And Criseyde ◽  
The Canterbury Tales

AbstractThis chapter has six sections: 1. General; 2. The Canterbury Tales; 3. Troilus and Criseyde; 4. The Legend of Good Women; 5. Other Works; 6. Reception. Sections 1(a) and 1(b) are by Lindsey Simon-Jones; section 1(c) is by Krista Sue-Lo Twu; section 2 is by Krista Sue-Lo Twu; sections 3 and 5 are by Derrick Pitard; sections 4 and 6 are by Lindsey Simon-Jones.

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