Description
Book SynopsisIn this fresh look at Chaucer's relation to English and French romances of the late Middle Ages, Crane shows that Chaucer's depictions of masculinity and femininity constitute an extensive and sympathetic response to the genre. For Chaucer, she proposes, gender is the defining concern of romance. As the foundational narratives of courtship, romance
Trade Review"Susan Crane is a meticulous scholar and a daring thinker—always a rare combination. This work is marked throughout by extraordinary expository clarity and a bold readiness to map uncharted areas. Its characteristic virtue is that, having situated itself by this kind of mapping, it then produces a plethora of remarkable insights about texts and their gender-based strategies."
—Paul Strohm, Indiana UniversityTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction3Ch. IMasculinity in Romance16Ch. IIFeminine Mimicry and Masquerade55Ch. IIIGender and Social Hierarchy93Ch. IVSubtle Clerks and Uncanny Women132Ch. VAdventure165Bibliography: Primary Sources205Bibliography: Secondary Sources210Index229
