Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index


  • Record Number: 9264
  • Author(s)/Creator(s): Scala , Elizabeth.
  • Contributor(s):
  • Title: Canacee and the Chaucer Canon: Incest and Other Unnarratables
  • Source: Chaucer Review 30, 1 ( 1995): Pages 15 - 39.
  • Description:
  • Article Type: Journal Article
  • Subject (See Also): Chaucer, Geoffrey, Poet- Canterbury Tales- Man of Law's Tale Chaucer, Geoffrey, Poet- Canterbury Tales- Squire's Tale Incest in Literature Literature- Verse Narrator
  • Award Note:
  • Geographic Area: British Isles
  • Century: 14
  • Primary Evidence:
  • Illustrations:
  • Table:
  • Abstract: The narrative strategy of the "Canterbury Tales" creates individualized pilgrims and makes readers conscious of Chaucer, the author constructing the narratives. The introduction to the "Man of Law's Tale" points toward the texts of other authors, such as Gower's "Confessio amantis," and even indicates other texts written by Chaucer, the "Legend of Medea" for example. The double indications of the text force readers to remain conscious of the pilgrim and of Chaucer, both tellers of the same tale. The "Man of Law's Tale," however, does exactly what he proclaimed it could not. Such denial only highlights the Man of Law's fears about the story he might tell. The reference in the "Squire's Tale" to Canacee reminds the audience of the incest motif that undergirds the "Canterbury Tales." Both tales may be considered in terms of absence: the "Man of Law's Tale" presents a story it was not going to tell, and the "Squire's Tale" is not at all about its stated subject. That the "Squire's Tale" is unfinished merely underscores its subject--gaps and absences. The Squire's use of "occupatio" draws attention to the weaknesses of such a tradition. In the "Squire's Tale," then, reader see the importance of the unnarrated material preceding and following the tale [Reproduced by permission of Peter G. Beidler and Martha A Kalnin Diede, editors of "The Chaucer Review: An Indexed Bibliography."].
  • Related Resources:
  • Author's Affiliation: University of Texas, Austin
  • Conference Info: - , -
  • Year of Publication: 1995.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN/ISBN: 00092002