Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Introduction: Chaucer's Visions of Manhood PART I: ENGENDERING CULTURAL SIGHTS The Femininity Mystique: Art, Vision, and Allegory in the Tale of Melibee Portrait of the Father as a Bad Man: Visible Pressure in the Physician's Tale PART II: REFORMING SOCIAL PERSPECTIVE 'My First Matere I Wil Yow Telle': Bodily Impact in the Book of the Duchess Generic Vision: Dislocating Masculinities in the Merchant's Tale PART III: ENVISIONING LITERARY BODIES Which Wife? What Man? Gender Invisibility Between Chaucer's Wife and Shipman Conclusion: 'Miscellaneous Chaucer: Proverbial Masculinity in MS. BL Harley 7333'
Synopsis
This book argues that Chaucer challenges his culture's mounting obsession with vision, constructing a model of 'manhed' that blurs the distinction between agency and passivity in a traditional gender binary.