Description
Book SynopsisFrom 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.
Trade ReviewBad 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." - Carissa Harris, Temple University
Table of Contents
- Introduction: On Chaucer’s Badness
- 1. The Catalog of Trees and Epic Digressions of the Knight’s Tale
- 2. The Broken Arm and Sympathetic Cuckold of the Miller’s Tale
- 3. The Stoic Dawn Song and Comic Rapes of the Reeve’s Tale
- 4. The Fornicating Wife and Incomplete Completion of the Cook’s Tale
- 5. The Bounteous Boat and Prosperity Theology of the Man of Law’s Tale
- 6. The Forgotten Maiden and Phallic Renaissance of the Wife of Bath’s Tale
- 7. The Damned Pan and Exemplary Inconsistencies of the Friar’s Tale
- 8. The Dead Children and Anti-Carnivalesque Humor of the Summoner’s Tale
- 9. The Wretched Smock and Gendered Theodicy of the Clerk’s Tale
- 10. The Apologetic Narrator and Fragmented Perspectives of the Merchant’s Tale
- 11. The Nurse of Digestion and Camp Pleasures of the Squire’s Tale
- 12. The Stony Lady and Lovely Contradictions of the Franklin’s Tale
- 13. The Executed Governess and Errant Themes of the Physician’s Tale
- 14. The Dead Man Walking and Pseudo Crux of the Pardoner’s Tale
- 15. The Groanworthy Puns and Semantic Enigmas of the Shipman’s Tale
- 16. The Forgiving Readers and Mitigated Antisemitism of the Prioress’s Tale
- 17. The Singsong Meter and Aural Agonies of the Tale of Sir Thopas
- 18. The Immoral Allegory and Boring Maxims of the Tale of Melibee
- 19. The Hundred Endless Threats and Tragic Genres of the Monk’s Tale
- 20. The Cock’s Words and Chaucerian Tripletalk of the Nun’s Priest’s Tale
- 21. The Invisible Nun and Chaste Orgasms of the Second Nun’s Tale
- 22. The Textbook Rhetoric and Pedantic Poetics of the Canon’s Yeoman’s Tale
- 23. The Empty Birdcage and Paradoxical Punishment of the Manciple’s Tale
- 24. The Meek Heretic and Narrativeless Narrative of the Parson’s Tale
- Conclusion: The Better Badness of Chaucer’s Retraction
