Gender and romance in chaucer's "canterbury tales."

242 Pages·2016·11.454 MB·English

by  Susan Crane

Gender and Romance
in Chaucer's
Canterbury Tales
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Gender and Romance
in Chaucer's
ant erbury Tales
SUSAN CRANE
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS • PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY
Copyright © 1994 by Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street,
Princeton, New Jersey 08540
In the United Kingdom Princeton University Press,
Chichester, West Sussex
All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Crane, Susan
Gender and romance in Chaucer's
Canterbury tales / Susan Crane
p cm
Includes bibliographical references (p ) and index
ISBN o 691 06952 2 — ISBN o 691 01527 9 (pbk )
1 Chaucer, Geoffrey, d 1400 Canterbury tales
2 Romances, English—History and criticism
3 Man woman relationships in literature
4 Sex (Psychology) in literature
5 Sex role in literature I Title
PR1875 R65C73 1993
821' 1—dc20 93 32421 CIP
This book has been composed in Adobe Trump Mediaeval
Princeton University Press books are printed
on acid free paper and meet the guidelines
for permanence and durability of the Committee
on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity
of the Council on Library Resources
Prmted in the United States of America
1 3 5 79 10 8 6 42
1 3 5 79 10 8 6 42
|Pbk)
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
vii
Introduction
3
CHAPTER I: Masculinity in Romance
16
CHAPTER II: Feminine Mimicry and Masquerade
55
CHAPTER III: Gender and Social Hierarchy
93
CHAPTER IV: Subtle Clerks and Uncanny Women
132.
CHAPTER V: Adventure
165
Bibliography
Primary Sources
205
Secondary Sources
210
Index
229

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
T IS A PLEASURE to acknowledge the many debts I have
incurred in the course of this project. The early stages
owed much to Georges Duby's kind invitation to at
tend his seminar on medieval women at the College de
France. Larry Benson sponsored my year as a Visiting
Scholar at Harvard, where the Department of English Medieval
Colloquium and the Seminar on Medieval Literature at the Cen
ter for Literary and Cultural Studies provided invaluable conver
sations. Drafts of various parts of the book became talks at Brown
University, Columbia University, the University of Connecti
cut, Harvard University, Princeton University, the University of
Rochester, Susquehanna University, the Modern Language Asso
ciation, and the New Chaucer Society. For these opportunities
and for warm hospitality I thank Peter Awn, David Benson, John
Ganim, Thomas Hahn, Frank Hoffman, William Jordan, Elizabeth
Kirk, and Jan Ziolkowski.
For helpful comments and criticisms on parts of the text I am
grateful to Larry Benson, Howard Bloch, Carolyn Dinshaw, Sheila
Fisher, Louise Fradenberg, Elaine Hansen, Monica McAlpine,
Anne Middleton, Charles Muscatine, Lee Patterson, Derek Pear-
sail, A. C. Spearing, and Winthrop Wetherbee. Throughout the
project I have received encouragement and advice from John
Fyler, John Ganim, and Paul Strohm. Many colleagues at Rutgers,
particularly Ed Cohen, Elin Diamond, Cora Kaplan, Elizabeth
McLachlan, and Bruce Robbins, have contributed bibliographical
suggestions and their lively intellectual engagement to my ef
forts. I owe debts reaching far beyond this project to the friendship
and the critical acumen of Susan Gal, Sam Hamburg, Barry
Quails, and Dick Foley.
A Fellowship for University Teachers from the National En
dowment for the Humanities and grants-in-aid from the Rutgers
Research Council have substantially aided my work. Thanks are
due for permission to print revised versions of articles appearing
in The Arthurian Yearbook, The Chaucer Review, PMLA, and
viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Studies in the Age of Chaucer. For access to the library of the
Ecole des Chartes I am indebted to Jacques Monfrin. The staffs of
the Bibliotheque Nationale, the British Library, and the libraries
of Rutgers, Harvard, and Princeton Universities have been unfail
ingly helpful. Peggy Knapp and Paul Strohm provided valuable
suggestions as referees for Princeton University Press. The Ca-
margo Foundation offered a residence and time for rewriting.
Robert Brown's editorial guidance and the superb copyediting of
Lauren Lepow have generously sustained me through the final
stages of the project.
Gender and Romance
in Chaucer's
Canterbury Tales