Chaucer's Decameron and the Origin of the Canterbury Tales

Name: Chaucer's Decameron and the Origin of the Canterbury Tales
Brand: D.S.Brewer
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By Biggs, Frederick M

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Description

A possible direct link between the two greatest literary collections of the fourteenth century, Boccaccio's Decameron and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, has long tantalized readers because these works share many stories, which are, moreover, placed in similar frames. And yet, although he identified many of his sources, Chaucer never mentioned Boccaccio; indeed when he retold the Decameron's final novella, his pilgrim, the Clerk, states that it was written by Petrarch. For these reasons, most scholars now believe that while Chaucer might have heard parts of the earlier collection when he was in Italy, he did not have it at hand as he wrote.
This volume aims to change our understanding of this question. It analyses the relationship between the "Shipman's Tale", originally written for the Wife of Bath, and Decameron 8.10, not seen before as a possible source. The book also argues that more important than the narratives that Chaucer borrowed is the literary technique that he learned from Boccaccio - to make tales from ideas. This technique, moreover, links the "Shipman's Tale" to the "Miller's Tale" and the new "Wife of Bath's Tale". Although at its core a hermeneutic argument, this book also delves into such important areas as alchemy, domestic space, economic history, folklore, Irish/English politics, manuscripts, and misogyny.
FREDERICK M. BIGGS is Professor of English at the University of Connecticut.

Product details

Binding:: Paperback
Number of Pages:: 294
Release Date:: 2019-10-18
Publication Date:: 2019-10-18
Publisher:: D.S.Brewer
Languages:: Original: English
ISBN10:: 1843845350
ISBN13:: 9781843845355
Weight:: 450 g
Height:: 15.6 cm
Width:: 23.4 cm
Thickness:: 1.6 cm

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