A Blessed Shore

A Blessed Shore PDF Author: Alfred Thomas
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 9780801445682
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description
"Although Thomas gives original readings of famous English texts by Chaucer and Shakespeare, this is also a book about Czech writers and travelers; one Czech expatriate, Anne of Bohemia, became Queen of England. For both countries these were decades of religious and dynastic turbulence, and Thomas's analyses of the relations between Wyclif and Hus, Lollards and Hussites, help us to understand why Bohemia was viewed as an almost utopian land of refuge ("a blessed shore" on which a ship might wash up) for persecuted English men and women. Of particular interest is his analysis of the ways in which English court culture emulated that of Prague, which was an imperial seat at a time when England was still a peripheral place with little influence on the heart of Europe.

A Blessed Shore

A Blessed Shore PDF Author: Alfred Thomas
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 9780801445682
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description
"Although Thomas gives original readings of famous English texts by Chaucer and Shakespeare, this is also a book about Czech writers and travelers; one Czech expatriate, Anne of Bohemia, became Queen of England. For both countries these were decades of religious and dynastic turbulence, and Thomas's analyses of the relations between Wyclif and Hus, Lollards and Hussites, help us to understand why Bohemia was viewed as an almost utopian land of refuge ("a blessed shore" on which a ship might wash up) for persecuted English men and women. Of particular interest is his analysis of the ways in which English court culture emulated that of Prague, which was an imperial seat at a time when England was still a peripheral place with little influence on the heart of Europe.

The Matter of Virtue

The Matter of Virtue PDF Author: Holly A. Crocker
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 0812251415
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 360

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Book Description
If material bodies have inherent, animating powers—or virtues, in the premodern sense—then those bodies typically and most insistently associated in the premodern period with matter—namely, women—cannot be inert and therefore incapable of ethical action, Holly Crocker contends. In The Matter of Virtue, Crocker argues that one idea of what it means to be human—a conception of humanity that includes vulnerability, endurance, and openness to others—emerges when we consider virtue in relation to modes of ethical action available to premodern women. While a misogynistic tradition of virtue ethics, from antiquity to the early modern period, largely cast a skeptical or dismissive eye on women, Crocker seeks to explore what happened when poets thought about the material body not as a tool of an empowered agent whose cultural supremacy was guaranteed by prevailing social structures but rather as something fragile and open, subject but also connected to others. After an introduction that analyzes Hamlet to establish a premodern tradition of material virtue, Part I investigates how retellings of the demise of the title female character in Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde, Henryson's Testament of Cresseid, and Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida among other texts structure a poetic debate over the potential for women's ethical action in a world dominated by masculine violence. Part II turns to narratives of female sanctity and feminine perfection, including ones by Chaucer, Bokenham, and Capgrave, to investigate grace, beauty, and intelligence as sources of women's ethical action. In Part III, Crocker examines a tension between women's virtues and household structures, paying particular attention to English Griselda- and shrew-literatures, including Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew. She concludes by looking at Chaucer's Legend of Good Women to consider alternative forms of virtuous behavior for women as well as men.

Chaucer to Shakespeare, 1337-1580

Chaucer to Shakespeare, 1337-1580 PDF Author: Sunhee Kim Gertz
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
ISBN: 9780333721988
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
In the 250 years introduced here, literature reflects key transitions, embedded as it is in far-reaching political, religious, and socio-economic transformations. This volume tracks some of the resulting tensions in various genres, especially those that re-integrate or respond to the traditional. Such literature is examined by using the tools of rhetoric and semiotics, interpreting from the author-audience axis and focusing on dissonant markers in canonical as well as in lesser well-known narratives. SunHee Kim Gertz looks at the history and culture of the era in order to contextualize the work she examines, including Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,The Book of Margery Kempe, Le Morte D'Arthur and A Midsummer Night's Dream. Offering a refreshing new perspective on a period of rich literary output, that students often find difficult to engage, this will prove a welcome guide and critical companion.

From Chaucer's Pardoner to Shakespeare's Iago

From Chaucer's Pardoner to Shakespeare's Iago PDF Author: Maik Goth
Publisher: Peter Lang
ISBN: 9783631564653
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 156

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Book Description
In The Western Canon: The Books and School of the Ages the American critic Harold Bloom claims that Shakespeare drew on Chaucer's Pardoner when creating the villain Iago for his Othello. This book turns Bloom's observation of influences within the canon of Western literature into a more complex intermedial analysis of dramatic and literary traditions at the waning of the Middle Ages and the dawn of the Renaissance. The discussion of verbal and non-verbal codes in Chaucer's presentation of the Pardoner and Shakespeare's depiction of Iago sheds light on the various strands of the Vice's development, and shows that Chaucer's pilgrim, who descends obliquely from the stage Vices, stands at the very beginning of the Vice tradition, while Iago is a late development of him, who adapts his role to new dramatic challenges.

Imagining Inheritance from Chaucer to Shakespeare

Imagining Inheritance from Chaucer to Shakespeare PDF Author: Alex Davis
Publisher:
ISBN: 0198851421
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description
In this work, Alex Davis explores how inheritance was imagined between the lifetimes of Chaucer and Shakespeare.

Troilus and Cressida

Troilus and Cressida PDF Author: William Shakespeare
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Troilus (Legendary character)
Languages : en
Pages : 204

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Book Description


The Testament of Cresseid

The Testament of Cresseid PDF Author: Robert Henryson
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107636264
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 43

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Book Description
Originally published in 1926, this volume contains the full text of The Testament of Cresseid by Scottish poet Robert Henryson.

Chaucer

Chaucer PDF Author: Marion Turner
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691210152
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 626

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Book Description
"More than any other canonical English writer, Geoffrey Chaucer lived and worked at the centre of political life -- yet his poems are anything but conventional. Edgy, complicated, and often dark, they reflect a conflicted world, and their astonishing diversity and innovative language earned Chaucer renown as the father of English literature. Marion Turner, however, reveals him as a great European writer and thinker. To understand his accomplishment, she reconstructs in unprecedented detail the cosmopolitan world of Chaucer's adventurous life, focusing on the places and spaces that fired his imagination. Uncovering important new information about Chaucer's travels, private life, and the early circulation of his writings, this innovative biography documents a series of vivid episodes, moving from the commercial wharves of London to the frescoed chapels of Florence and the kingdom of Navarre, where Christians, Muslims, and Jews lived side by side. The narrative recounts Chaucer's experiences as a prisoner of war in France, as a father visiting his daughter's nunnery, as a member of a chaotic Parliament, and as a diplomat in Milan, where he encountered the writings of Dante and Boccaccio. At the same time, the book offers a comprehensive exploration of Chaucer's writings, taking the reader to the Troy of Troilus and Criseyde, the gardens of the dream visions, and the peripheries and thresholds of The Canterbury Tales. By exploring the places Chaucer visited, the buildings he inhabited, the books he read, and the art and objects he saw, this landmark biography tells the extraordinary story of how a wine merchant's son became the poet of The Canterbury Tales." -- Publisher's description.

The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye

The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye PDF Author: Raoul Lefèvre
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Troy (Extinct city)
Languages : en
Pages : 552

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Book Description


The Cambridge Guide to Homer

The Cambridge Guide to Homer PDF Author: Corinne Ondine Pache
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108663621
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 985

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Book Description
From its ancient incarnation as a song to recent translations in modern languages, Homeric epic remains an abiding source of inspiration for both scholars and artists that transcends temporal and linguistic boundaries. The Cambridge Guide to Homer examines the influence and meaning of Homeric poetry from its earliest form as ancient Greek song to its current status in world literature, presenting the information in a synthetic manner that allows the reader to gain an understanding of the different strands of Homeric studies. The volume is structured around three main themes: Homeric Song and Text; the Homeric World, and Homer in the World. Each section starts with a series of 'macropedia' essays arranged thematically that are accompanied by shorter complementary 'micropedia' articles. The Cambridge Guide to Homer thus traces the many routes taken by Homeric epic in the ancient world and its continuing relevance in different periods and cultures.