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Record Number:
3409
Author(s)/Creator(s):
Besserman , Lawrence
Contributor(s):
Title:
Chaucer, Spain, and the Prioress's Antisemitism
Source:
Viator 35, ( 2004): Pages 329 - 353.
Description:
Article Type:
Journal Article
Subject
(See Also)
:
Antisemitism in Literature
Chaucer, Geoffrey, Poet- Canterbury Tales- Prioress's Tale
Jews
Literature- Verse
Prioress (Literary Figure)
Award Note:
Geographic Area:
British Isles
Century:
14
Primary Evidence:
Illustrations:
Table:
Abstract:
The goal of the present essay is to demonstrate how unlikely it would have been for Chaucer to have subscribed to the antisemitic views depicted in the Prioress’s Tale. The demonstration consists of three sections. The first section takes a freshlook at textual clues in the fictional response to the Prioress’s Tale within the "Canterbury Tales." The second section adduces neglected evidence of intersections between Chaucer’s diplomatic and court-related career and the careers of prominent contemporary Jews in Spain, and also in Anglo-Spanish relations, from the 1360s to the 1390s. The third section examines Chaucer’s surprisingly favorable depictions of Jews in two passages, one from the "House of Fame" and one from the "Prologue to the Treatise on the Astrolabe." These two passages are routinely neglected by commentators on Chaucer’s attitude toward Jews, an attitude too often presumed to be the same as that expressed in the Prioress’s Tale. [Reproduced from the journal website:
http://brepols.metapress.com/content/121213/?p=afdbc79947a4444b9739ff05942fde63&pi=0
]
Related Resources:
Author's Affiliation:
Hebrew University
Conference Info:
- , -
Year of Publication:
2004.
Language:
English
ISSN/ISBN:
00835897