Life in Words
Subtitle: Essays on Chaucer, the Gawain-Poet, and Malory
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Published: 2014
Language: eng
Number of pages: 400
ISBN-13: 9781442648654
Subjects: Chaucer, geoffrey, -1400, criticism and interpretation; Chaucer, geoffrey, -1400, language; Malory, thomas, sir, active 15th century; English literature, history and criticism, middle english, 1100-1500; Literature, medieval; Gawain (legendary character); Arthurian romances
Description: This volume collects fifteen landmark essays published over the last three decades by the distinguished medievalist Jill Mann. Bringing together her essays on Chaucer, the Gawain-poet, and Malory, the collection foregrounds the common interest in the semantic implications of key vocabulary such as "authority," "adventure," and "price" that links them together.Mann, one of the finest critics of Middle English literature in her generation, uses the concepts suggested by the language of medieval literature itself as a way into the masterpieces of Middle English, including The Canterbury Tales, Troilus and Criseyde, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and the Morte Darthur.An extended introduction by Mark Rasmussen brings out the nature of the themes that run through the collection, analyses the critical methods in play, and assesses their significance in the context of Middle English studies over the last thirty years.