Ethics and exemplary narrative in Chaucer and Gower
By: J. Allan Mitchell.
Series: Chaucer studies,; 33
Publisher: D.S. Brewer
Published: 2004
Place of publication: Cambridge; Rochester, NY
Language: eng
Number of pages: 157
Subjects: Chaucer, Geoffrey, d. 1400 -- Ethics.; Gower, John, 1325?-1408.; Chaucer, Geoffrey, d. 1400 -- Technique.; Gower, John, 1325?-1408 -- Technique.; Gower, John, 1325?-1408 -- Ethics.; Ethics, Medieval, in literature.; Exempla in literature.; Rhetoric, Medieval.
Description: "Borrowing from recent developments in ethical criticism and theory, this book reconstructs a late medieval rationale for the ethics of exemplary narrative. The author argues that Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and Gower's Confessio Amantis attest to the vitality of a narrative - rather than strictly normative - ethics that has roots in premodern traditions of practical reason and rhetoric. Chaucer and Gower are shown to be inheritors and respecters of an early and unexpected form of ethical pragmatism - which has profound implications for the orthodox history of ethics in the West."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [143]-153) and index.