标题: Bookreview: The Canterbury Tales and The Cambridge Chaucer Companion [打印本页] 作者: 怀抱花朵的孩子 时间: 2007-3-6 00:56 标题: Bookreview: The Canterbury Tales and The Cambridge Chaucer Companion Bookreview: The Canterbury Tales and The Cambridge Chaucer Companion
Introduction:
I have read The Cambridge Chaucer Companion after finishing The Canterbury tales. And I found that this companion contains very great and very illuminative comments. At the same time it's out of my hand to recommend my own systemic criticisms on this book. So I think it will be very convenient and meaningful to read and review these two books together.
As the editor Jill Mann said This Companion was collected for students approaching Chaucer for the first time. But it's not so easy like common writer recommend. The articles in this book are all written by famous international Chaucer professor especially for this edition. They are organized according as a very clear criticism ideal. After finishing it you will find every article has its own study orientation, all of these articles can be thought a dynamic union.
Actually The Companion can be divided into two great parts. The first half is “focused squarely on one or more of Chaucer's major works, identifying their themes and styles, moods and tones. In such a way as to help the reader to appreciate Chaucer's aims and artistry in each case”. And the other half contains “are these more general kind-focusing on literary or historical background, on style or structure- which not only present the major works in ever-different lights, but also explore their links with many of the minor poems and with other medieval literature”.
The train of thought of this Companion is very clear and at the same time also very complicated, can not be explained in one or two paragraphs excellently. So I think it's better for me to recommend and review these chapters of this book one by one.
Chapter I: The social and literary scene in England (By Paul Strohm of Indiana University)
This chapter contains five parts: Social structure, Chaucer’s own position, The principal communities of readers, Chaucer’s audience, Chaucer as a social poet.
Social structure
In this part Paul Strohm first recommend us the thirteenth-century legal commentator Bracton’s division of society into three degrees: those high in the ecclesiastical hierarchy, those high in the civil and those remaining. And he gives a relative detailed data of these different persons. Paul points out that even in Bracton’s view the estates of society can’t be seen as independent parts but interdependent. This notion issues in an alternative view of society as organic rather than hierarchical. This organic view often conveyed through a metaphor of the social estates as members of the body politic. He especially referred the new class of esquires and the urban merchants who often enjoyed much greater wealth than those knights and esquires, who have no land and no military obligations but mainly earn their status through civil and administrative tasks which we can consider essentially as “middle class”.
Chaucer’s own position
Chaucer’s father was not only a prosperous London vintner, but also did some customs collection for Edward III. Chaucer was born in the year 1340s and began his own career as the household of Elizabeth, Countess of Ulster and her husband Lionel in 1357. In the service of latter he journeyed between France and England (was captured and ransomed in a military campaign in France) and other many countries for many times. He married with Philippa de Roet, daughter of a knight of Hainault (who had come to England in the service of the queen) and sister of Katherine Swynford (soon to be mistress and eventual third wife of John of Gaunt). In 1367, soon after his marriage, he is listed as valettus of King Edward III, and by 1368 he is listed among esquires of the royal household. He continued to be an esquire and never was admitted into the inner circle of chamber-knights. In 1374, he was shifted to the post of the controller of customs in London, assisted both by preferment from Edward III and by a timely annuity to him and his wife from John of Gaunt.
In 1377, England was invaded by Richard II, but Chaucer could still continue his own posts and assignments. In the latter 1380s, Chaucer withdrawed from London politic activity, and at the same time (1386-9) Richard III was severely challenged by an aristocratic coalition. In 1389, Richard II reasserted his royal prerogatives, and Chaucer soon after received his next royal appointment as clerk of the king’s works. He continued in various capacities through 1390s, When Henry IV supplanted Richard II in 1399, a year before Chaucer’s death, he confirmed Richard’s annuities and added a grant of his own.
Through this simple summary of Chaucer’s life, Paul gave us three points about Chaucer’s life and place in society.
(1) As an esquire, Chaucer have no security from the possession of lands and rents enjoyed by the great aristocrats, his versatile career not only was not only an expression of his energies and his zest for politics, but also was essential to his livelihood and to the maintenance of his station in life.
(2) Chaucer’s service bridged successfully the careers of three monarchs, he enjoyed frequent appointments and re-appointments while weathering the extreme and sometimes dangerous factional vicissitudes of his day.
(3) His politic career had nothing to do with his literary activities directly. This point will be discussed particularly later.
The principal communities of readers
In Chaucer’s time, no more than five per cent of the population can read. We can make sure that some of Chaucer’s early poems were written mainly for oral promulgation. His mid-career Troilus and Criseyde was a watershed. And his later poems especially The Canterbury Tales was for a larger audience in manuscript form. But this kind of formulation contains some uncertainties. Even in the Tales we can find some obvious expressions for hearing.
Actually, there are three languages coexisting in England of the 14th century: Latin as the language of ecclesiastical and theological discourse; French as the language of statecraft and civil record-keeping, as well as a literary language in some circles; and English was gradually coming to the fore, as the language of knights、esquires、merchants、peasants and so on who were lower than those upper classes (these aristocrats and Bishops) and have to service for them in their own ways.
These different classes and different languages still fostered divergent tastes in literature. Such kind of segment was most dramatically illuminated by the fact that the three great writers of the 14th century-Chaucer、Langland、and the Gawain-poet-may not have known each other’s works.
These works which were written in Latin were mainly about theological and ecclesiastical matters, but some 14th century manuscripts of likely ecclesiastical provenance includes works in Latin, French and also middle English.
The series of conflicts between England and France known as the Hundred Years War brought the two countries into inevitable association through legations, missions and especially the holding prisoners for ransom. Many London people can speak French without traveling to France. More and more books in French was brought to England by all kinds of people especially these aristocrats who married French royal ladies
The middle-English-speaking echelons’ situation is more complicated. Which we mainly referred to these knights, esquires, and urban merchants which can be considered as the “civil service” of the day. More and more Latin and French written works were translated into English. More and more English literature works published must have encouraged Chaucer and many other writer to choose English as their expression tools.
Paul especially emphasizes that the boundaries between communities of readers tended to shift. Maybe that’s the most important point we should pay attention to particularly.
Chaucer’s audience
Paul thinks that Chaucer seemed to have found his own community of readers.
He first points out that some of his poems were written for upper classes, his The Book of The Duchess was written to console John of Gaunt for the death of his wife. And in his short poem “lake of Stedfastness” does Chaucer appeared to address Richard II directly. There are still some other examples can prove his attention to direct his works beyond his immediate circle. Maybe that is also why his poems full of slight irony.
Compared with his upper audience, Chaucer’s immediate audience circle is more complicated and more ambiguous. His immediate circle was almost certainly composed of persons in social situations close to his own. But we can’t be sure what kind of person will be his ordinary reader. But Paul gives us a name list of his contemporaries which were mentioned in Chaucer’s poem. From which we can feel that this kind of circle do exist, and Paul farther enumerated some instances in which Chaucer address his readers or audiences in a very familiar tone. As if he was really talking with somebody beside himself.
While confident with his manner of addressing to his immediate audience, he seemed less certain about an enlarged 15th –century readership.
Chaucer as a social poet
Unlike his other contemporary writers, he rarely mentioned or discussed these great social issues of his day, many of which he had experienced by himself.
Paul especially proved to us that his The Canterbury Tales, which was commonly regarded great for his vivid portrayal of thirty pilgrims, actually can not be seen as an all-sided delineation of the social life of his day. He pointed out that the highest and the lowest ranks were almost missed by Chaucer in this great Tales.
This kind of saying was not so intact, because Chaucer did have written so many persons of different occupations. But he thinks that these persons in the Tales put an air of amity which can’t be imagined in a highly hierarchical society. The behavior of many of the pilgrims shows the emergence of forms of civility well-suited to the advancement of transactions in an increasingly mercantile and profit-oriented society.
In this light Paul thinks that Chaucer’s poetry penetrated the deepest essence of his day.
My Comment on this Chapter
The 14th century can’t be said as a peaceful era in any way: The cataclysmic Black Death、The Famous Hundred Years War、The Three monarchies’ vicissitude (Edward III, Richard II, Henry IV)、Peasant’s Revolt and so on. Many of these great events Chaucer had gone through by himself. But he rarely mentioned or discussed about these things in his literature works. Not like Shakespeare who had written three great dramas (Henry IV, Richard II, Richard III) which tell the stories of the kings of Chaucer’s time, Our first great English poet seemed had no interest to record or delineate these historic events. Any kind of guessing that Chaucer had no ability to do what Shakespeare had done can’t be believable. Like what I have mentioned Chaucer must have great politic discernment to service for three monarchies.
The language problem will be discussed in next chapter, Paul just give us a general presentation about the three language’s influence about literature readers circle. We know that Shakespeare’s dramas were written for his London theater audience. But we even can’t be sure whom Chaucer was writing for, some of his poems were written for upper ranks, but his other readers circle is more ambiguous. As if this problem is not so important as what we’ve talked above. Many things Paul was talking about are just hypothesize. In chapter XIII (Chaucer’s narrator) we will find Dieter Mehl discuss about the narrators in Chaucer’s poems, which is more complicated than this problem.
Paul didn’t discuss these great events in the first part of this article detailedly, but just talked about 14th century’s hierarchy situation. And in the last part of this article Paul said that “Again and again Chaucer’s poetry offers us an experience in which a hierarchy is postulated and then penetrated or otherwise qualified”. I doubt about the authenticity and meaning of this kind of saying. I don’t know in what degree Chaucer have realized what Paul is talking about. Or he just wrote what he was feeling. But I still don’t think the relationship between these pilgrims is very important for Chaucer or for The Canterbury Tales. If what Paul is talking about is believable, but what are these tales are talking about? What is Chaucer’s attention to collect these tales? After all, the relationship between those pilgrims takes a very small part in the whole book.作者: 怀抱花朵的孩子 时间: 2007-3-6 01:05
This unfinished essay was written few monthes ago, I am very unsatisfied about it, so didn't paste it out until now. It's just a failed try. Maybe I'll write a new one to satisfy myself.作者: chinesepoet 时间: 2007-3-6 12:18
Well done!I want to return to read English,although it's hard.