Literary Value and Social Identity in the Canterbury Tales

Robert J. Meyer-Lee

doi:10.1017/9781108757621

Literary authors, especially those with other occupations, must come to grips with the question of why they should write at all, when the world urges them to devote their time and energy to other pursuits. They must reach, at the very least, a provisional conclusion regarding the relation between the uncertain value of their literary efforts and the more immediate values of their non-authorial social identities. Geoffrey Chaucer, with his several middle-strata identities, grappled with this question in a remarkably searching, complex manner. In this book, Robert J. Meyer-Lee examines the multiform, dynamic meditation on the relation between literary value and social identity that Chaucer stitched into the heart of The Canterbury Tales. He traces the unfolding of this meditation through what he shows to be the tightly linked performances of Clerk, Merchant, Franklin and Squire, offering the first full-scale reading of this sequence.

‘… his insights will no doubt prompt worthwhile discussion among Chaucer scholars.’

S. Downey Source: Choice

‘Literary Value and Social Identity in the Canterbury Tales will be of immediate and lasting interest to scholars of Chaucer and to readers of Middle English literature more broadly.’

David K. Coley Source: Studies in the Age of Chaucer

‘Robert Meyer-Lee’s new monograph, Literary Value and Social Identity in the ‘Canterbury Tales’ is a masterclass in literary criticism. It offers not only new interpretations of the Tales but a canny elucidation of the reasoning underlying its own readings.’

Julie Orlemanski Source: Modern Philology

‘Meyer-Lee’s masterful attention to tone and voice … showcases Chaucer’s language in action …’

Laura L. Howes Source: Journal of British Studies

‘… crisp and clear …’

Chad Schrock Source: Modern Language Review

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Literary Value and Social Identity in the Canterbury Tales

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Contents

Literary Value and Social Identity in the Canterbury Tales
pp i-i

Cambridge Studies in Medieval Literature - Series page
pp ii-ii

Literary Value and Social Identity in the Canterbury Tales - Title page
pp iii-iii

Copyright page
pp iv-iv

Dedication
pp v-vi

Contents
pp vii-vii

Acknowledgments
pp viii-ix

Abbreviations
pp x-x

Introduction
pp 1-26

Chapter 1 - Clerk
pp 27-76

Chapter 2 - Merchant
pp 77-131

Chapter 3 - Squire
pp 132-172

Chapter 4 - Franklin
pp 173-235

Notes
pp 236-264

Works Cited
pp 265-279

Index
pp 280-282

Cambridge Studies in Medieval Literature - Series page
pp 283-286

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Literary Value and Social Identity in the Canterbury Tales

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