Bad Chaucer

The Great Poet’s Greatest Mistakes in the Canterbury Tales

Inbunden, Engelska, 2024

482 kr

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Beskrivning

Acclaimed for centuries as the “Father of English Literature,” Geoffrey Chaucer enjoys widespread and effusive praise for his classic Canterbury Tales—and rightfully so. Still, even the greatest of authors cannot claim perfection, and so Bad Chaucer: The Great Poet’s Greatest Mistakes in the Canterbury Tales analyzes his various missteps, missed opportunities, and other blunders in this peerless masterpiece. From a vexing catalog of trees in the Knight’s Tale to the flirtations with blasphemy in the Parson’s Tale, this volume progresses through the Canterbury Tales story by story, tale by tale, pondering the most egregious failing of each in turn. Viewed collectively, Chaucer’s troubles stem from clashing genres that disrupt interpretive clarity, themeless themes that undermine any message a tale might convey, mischaracterized characters who act without clear motivation, purposeful and otherwise pleasureful badness that show Chaucer’s appreciation for the humor of bad literature, and outmoded perspectives that threaten to alienate modern readers. Badness is not always to be lamented but often celebrated, even cherished, for badness infuses artistic creations with the vitality that springs from varied responses, spirited engagements, and the inherent volatility of enjoying literature. On the whole, Bad Chaucer: The Great Poet’s Greatest Mistakes in the Canterbury Tales swerves literary criticism in a new direction by examining the provocative question, for too long overlooked, of what this great author got wrong.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum:2024-01-17
Mått:152 x 229 x 23 mm
Vikt:504 g
Format:Inbunden
Språk:Engelska
Antal sidor:274
Förlag:The University of Michigan Press
ISBN:9780472133444

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Mer om författaren

Tison Pugh is Pegasus Professor of English at the University of Central Florida. He is the author or editor of over two dozen books, including On the Queerness of Early English Drama: Sex in the Subjunctive and Chaucer’s (Anti-) Eroticisms and the Queer Middle Ages.

Recensioner i media

“Bad Chaucer’s best features are its provocative starting point and its comprehensive commitment to identifying ‘a wider range of lapses and blunders in such topics as thematic consistency, narrative coherency, and character development’ in each of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, even the ones that are frequently overlooked by critics. The author has an impressively broad and comprehensive knowledge of Chaucerian texts and criticism. The writing is lucid, lively, and graceful.”

Innehållsförteckning

Introduction: On Chaucer’s Badness1. The Catalog of Trees and Epic Digressions of the Knight’s Tale2. The Broken Arm and Sympathetic Cuckold of the Miller’s Tale 3. The Stoic Dawn Song and Comic Rapes of the Reeve’s Tale4. The Fornicating Wife and Incomplete Completion of the Cook’s Tale 5. The Bounteous Boat and Prosperity Theology of the Man of Law’s Tale6. The Forgotten Maiden and Phallic Renaissance of the Wife of Bath’s Tale7. The Damned Pan and Exemplary Inconsistencies of the Friar’s Tale8. The Dead Children and Anti-Carnivalesque Humor of the Summoner’s Tale9. The Wretched Smock and Gendered Theodicy of the Clerk’s Tale10. The Apologetic Narrator and Fragmented Perspectives of the Merchant’s Tale11. The Nurse of Digestion and Camp Pleasures of the Squire’s Tale12. The Stony Lady and Lovely Contradictions of the Franklin’s Tale13. The Executed Governess and Errant Themes of the Physician’s Tale14. The Dead Man Walking and Pseudo Crux of the Pardoner’s Tale15. The Groanworthy Puns and Semantic Enigmas of the Shipman’s Tale16. The Forgiving Readers and Mitigated Antisemitism of the Prioress’s Tale17. The Singsong Meter and Aural Agonies of the Tale of Sir Thopas18. The Immoral Allegory and Boring Maxims of the Tale of Melibee 19. The Hundred Endless Threats and Tragic Genres of the Monk’s Tale20. The Cock’s Words and Chaucerian Tripletalk of the Nun’s Priest’s Tale21. The Invisible Nun and Chaste Orgasms of the Second Nun’s Tale22. The Textbook Rhetoric and Pedantic Poetics of the Canon’s Yeoman’s Tale23. The Empty Birdcage and Paradoxical Punishment of the Manciple’s Tale 24. The Meek Heretic and Narrativeless Narrative of the Parson’s TaleConclusion: The Better Badness of Chaucer’s Retraction