Excrement in the Late Middle Ages: Sacred Filth and Chaucer's Fecopoetics (The New Middle Ages)

286 Pages·2008·3.36 MB·English

by  Susan Signe Morrison

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Excrement in the Late Middle Ages: Sacred
Chaucerian Aesthetics Filth and Chaucer’s Fecopoetics
by Peggy A. Knapp by Susan Signe Morrison
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EXCREMENT IN THE LATE
MIDDLE AGES
SACRED FILTH AND CHAUCER’S
FECOPOETICS
Susan Signe Morrison
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EXCREMENT IN THE LATE MIDDLE AGES
Copyright © Susan Signe Morrison, 2008.
All rights reserved.
First published in 2008 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN®
in the US—a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world,
this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills,
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Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
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ISBN-13: 978–1–4039–8488–3
ISBN-10: 1–4039–8488–3
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Morrison, Susan Signe, 1959–
Excrement in the late Middle Ages : sacred fi lth and Chaucer’s
fecopoetics / by Susan Signe Morrison.
p. cm.—(New Middle Ages)
This book examines medieval discourse on excrement. Includes
bibliographical references.
ISBN 1–4039–8488–3
1. Feces in literature. 2. Chaucer, Geoffrey, d. 1400. Canterbury
tales. 3. Literature, Medieval—History and criticism. 4. Feces—Symbolic
aspects. 5. Symbolism in literature. 6. Body, Human, in literature.
7. Sanitation in literature. 8. Refuse and refuse disposal in
literature. I. Title.
PR1933.F43M67 2008
821(cid:1).1—dc22 2008003859
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India.
First edition: September 2008
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America.
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments xi
1 Introduction 1
Part I The Medieval Body: Disciplining
Material and Symbolic Excrement
2 The Rhizomatic Body 15
3 Moral Filth and the Sinning Body: Hell, Purgatory,
Resurrection 25
4 Gendered Filth 45
Part II Chaucerian Fecopoetics
5 Urban Excrement in The Canterbury Tales 57
6 Sacred Filth: Relics, Ritual, and Remembering in
The Prioress’s Tale 73
7 The Excremental Human God and Redemptive
Filth: The Pardoner’s Tale 89
8 The Rhizomatic Pilgrim Body and Alchemical Poetry 103
9 Chaucerian Fecology and Wasteways: The Nun’s Priest’s Tale 117
Part III Looking Behind, Looking Ahead
10 Looking Behind 129
11 Waste Studies: A Brief Introduction 139
12 Bottoms Up! A Manifesto for Waste Studies 153
Notes 159
Bibliography 225
Index 251
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