Constructing Chaucer: Author and Autofiction in the Critical Tradition

297 Pages·2009·2.545 MB·English

by  Geoffrey W. Gust (auth.)

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English Translation of the Complete Works Constructing Chaucer: Author and
(1376/77–1445) Autofiction in the Critical Tradition
by Albrecht Classen by Geoffrey W. Gust
CONSTRUCTING CHAUCER
AUTHOR AND AUTOFICTION
IN THE CRITICAL TRADITION
Geoffrey W. Gust
CONSTRUCTING CHAUCER
Copyright © Geoffrey W. Gust, 2009.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2009 978-1-4039-7643-7
All rights reserved.
First published in 2009 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN®
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registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills,
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ISBN 978-1-349-53712-9 ISBN 978-0-230-62161-9 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230621619
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gust, Geoffrey W.
Constructing Chaucer : author and autofi ction in the critical tradition /
Geoffrey W. Gust.
p. cm.—(The new Middle Ages)
Includes bibliographical references.
1. Chaucer, Geoffrey, d. 1400—Criticism and interpretation.
2. Chaucer, Geoffrey, d. 1400—Technique. 3. Persona (Literature)
4. Authors and readers. 5. First person narrative. I. Title.
PR1924.G87 2009
821(cid:1).1—dc22 2008047342
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India.
First edition: June 2009
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To “my girls,”
Kym and Kylee
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments xiii
1 Persona and Personalities: Medieval Lineage, Modern Legacy 1
1.1 U nveiling the Mask: Historical Definitions of
the Persona 4
1.2 Premodern Persona-Theory: A Brief History 9
1.3 “Self”-Projections: Modern Persona-Theory, Chaucer
the Pilgrim, and Chaucer the Man 28
1.4 Autofiction, Neo Persona-Theory, and Chaucerian
Interpretation 36
2 Getting a Life: Biographical Constructions of Chaucer the Man 51
2.1 Early Praise for the “Fadir” of English Poetry and
the Creation of the Chaucer “Legends” 54
2.2 The Early Modern Justification of Chaucer 58
2.3 Eighteenth-Century Changes and
“Legendary” Continuations 63
2.4 Romanticizing Chaucer the Man 68
2.5 Fact or Fiction? Chaucer’s “Lives” from
Nicolas to the Present 72
3 Chaucer Speaks: Memoirs of the Man? 87
3.1 The Man and His Familiars: Chaucer Talks to Friends 90
3.2 The Man and His Monarchs: Chaucer Talks to Kings 102
3.3 The Man and His Maker: Chaucer Talks to God 112
4 Lives of Their Own: The Wife of Bath,
the Pardoner, and Critical (Dis)Approval 121
4.1 Lives of Their Own: Scholarly Ethics and
the Wife of Bath and Pardoner 124
4.2 The Wife’s “Wommanhede”: Alisoun,
(Anti)Feminism, and Scholarly Acceptance 129
4.3 The Pardoner’s “Privetees”: Physiognomy,
Perversion, and Scholarly Retreat 142