Description
Book SynopsisRepresentations of masculinity in Chaucer's works examined through modern critical theory.How does Chaucer portray the various male pilgrims in the
Canterbury Tales? How manly is Troilus? To what extent can the spirit and terminology of recent feminist criticism inform the study of Chaucer's men? Is there such athing as a distinct `Chaucerian masculinity', or does it appear in a multitude of different forms? These are some of the questions that the contributors to this ground-breaking and provocative volume attempt to answer, using a diversity of critical methods and theories. Some look at the behaviour of noble or knightly men; some at clerics, or businessmen, or churls; others examine the so-called "masculine" qualities of female characters, and the "feminine"qualities of male characters. Topics include the Host's bourgeois masculinity; the erotic triangles operating in the
Miller's Tale; why Chaucer `diminished' the sexuality of Sir Thopas; and whether Troilus is effeminate, impotent or an example of true manhood. PETER G. BEIDLER is the Lucy G.Moses Distinguished Professor of English at Lehigh University. Contributors: MARK ALLEN, PATRICIA CLARE INGHAM, MARTIN BLUM, DANIEL F. PIGG, ELIZABETH M. BIEBEL, JEAN E. JOST, CAROL EVEREST, ANDREA ROSSI-REDER, GLENN BURGER, PETER G. BEIDLER, JEFFREY JEROME COHEN, DANIEL RUBEY, MICHAEL D. SHARP, PAUL R. THOMAS, STEPHANIE DIETRICH, MAUD BURNETT MCINERNEY, DEREK BREWER
Trade Review`Masculinity' is variously defined, a category so rich that its careful definition must necessarily enrich our reading of Chaucer. If there is one concern that unites these essays, it is the wish to challenge orthodoxies: new perspectives on familiar passages abound. * MEDIUM AEVUM *
Table of Contents`Mirth and Bourgeois Masculinity in Chaucer's Host'. - Mark Allen `Homosociality and Creative Masculinity in the 'Knight's Tale''. - Patricia Clare Ingham `Negotiating Masculinities: Erotic Triangles in the 'Miller's Tale''. - Martin Blum `Performing the Perverse: The Abuse of Masculine Power in the `Reeve's Tale''. - Daniel F Pigg `A Wife, a Batterer, a Rapist: Representations of `Masculinity' in the `Wife of Bath's Prologue' and `Tale'. - Elizabeth M. Biebel `Ambiguous Brotherhood in the `Friar's Tale' and `Summoner's Tale''. - Jean E Jost `Sight and Sexual Performance in the `Merchant's Tale''. - Carol A Everest `Male Movement and Female Fixity in the `Franklin's Tale' and `Il Filocolo''. - Andrea Rossi-Reder `Doing What Comes Naturally: The `Physician's Tale' and the Pardoner'. - Glenn Burger `Troilus's `Gentil' Manhood'. - Peter G Beidler `Diminishing Masculinity in Chaucer's `Tale of Sir Thopas''. - Jeffrey Jerome Cohen `The Five Wounds of Melibee's Daughter: Transforming Masculinities'. - Daniel Rubey `Reading Chaucer's `Manly Man': The Trouble with Masculinity in the `Monk's Prologue' and `Tale'. - Michael D. Sharp ``Have ye no mannes herte?': Chauntecleer as Cock-Man in the `Nun's Priest's Tale'. - Paul R Thomas ``Slydyng' Masculinity in the Four Portraits of Troilus'. - Stephanie Dietrich ``Is this a mannes herte?': Unmanning Troilus through Ovidian Allusion'. - Maud Burnett McInerney `Troilus's `Gentil' Manhood'. - Derek S Brewer
