ENG 250 - Medieval Literature

SPRING 2022 -The Canterbury Tales

In The Canterbury Tales, the poet Geoffrey Chaucer adopts an authorial persona (also named Chaucer) who relates his experiences in a company of pilgrims as “to Caunterbury they wende, / The hooly blisful martir for to seke.” The travelers pass the time by swapping stories, which the narrator relates with the caveat that he is only ventriloquizing: as an accurate reporter, he cannot be reproached for simply repeating what others have said.

This “inside/outside” role allows the narrator to comment on the people he observes, often adopting an ingenuous tone that exposes their flaws and foibles. In this way, the project participates in and expands upon the tradition of medieval estate satire: works that portray figures familiar in 14th century English society in terms of their hypocrisies and vices. In retelling “their” stories, the narrator sketches a diverse range of classes, professions, and characters representing a uniquely eclectic collection of cultural and social “types” (a battle-stained knight; hypocritical clergy; dishonest tradesmen; a genteel Prioress; the loquacious proto-feminist Wife of Bath, etc.). In this seminar, we will explore how this diverse cast enables Chaucer to work with, critique, and subvert a wide array of genres, from chivalric romance to misogynist polemic, from animal fables to cautionary tales, and from saints’ lives to tales of sex work, robbery, and even murder. Readings will be in Middle English (with links to modern translations); no previous Middle English knowledge is required.

 

Anticipated Terms Offered: Periodically