Description
Book SynopsisTransforming Talk shifts the current debate and argues that gossip functions primarily as a transformative discourse, influencing not only social interactions but also literary and religious practices.
Trade Review“Transforming Talk is impressive both in what it accomplishes and what it manages to avoid. A topic like gossip might unwisely tempt a writer into pop or pretentious theoretical clichés, but instead Phillips has produced a study that is clearly written, well documented, solidly argued, and, above all, original in general concept and its specific readings. With confidence and subtlety, Phillips deals with a wide range of late medieval writing, from obscure works to Chaucerian masterpieces, exploring not only gossip’s transgressions but also, and especially, its protean abilities to generate new and surprising narratives.”
—C. David Benson,University of Connecticut
“This is an extremely well-researched book, and the numerous helpful bibliographic and discursive footnotes are evidence of an astute scholarly mind.”
—A. L. Kaufman Choice
“Susan Phillips has done us a great service in writing this book about medieval gossip, for not only does she extend [its] premises . . . with theoretical, historical, and literary support, and in clear and intelligent prose, but she also focuses her exploration at the site of the beginnings of what we recognize as English, the early modern world of late Middle English, the language of Chaucer, Manning, and Dunbar, the world of fourteenth- and fifteenth-century England.”
—John Michael Crafton Christianity and Literature
“Even if one is not convinced by the larger argument for the transformative capacity of idle talk, this study is filled with fresh, provocative readings that demonstrate the value of taking idle speech seriously.”
—Karla Taylor Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies
Table of ContentsContents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. “Janglynge in cherche”: Pastoral Practice and Idle Talk
2. Chaucerian Small Talk
3. “Sisteris in schrift”: Gossip’s Confessional Kinship
4. The Gospel According to Gossips, or How Gossip Got Its Name
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
