Synopses & Reviews
Chaucers Pardoner and Gender Theory, the first book-length treatment of the character, examines the Pardoner in Chaucers
Canterbury Tales from the perspective of both medieval and twentieth-century theories of sex, gender, and erotic practice. Sturges argues for a discontinuous, fragmentary reading of this character and his tale that is genuinely both premodern and postmodern. Drawing on theorists ranging from St. Augustine and Alain de Lille to Judith Butler and Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Sturges approaches the Pardoner as a representative of the construction of historical--and sexual--identities in a variety of historically specific discourses, and argues that medieval understandings of gender remain sedimented in postmodern discourse.
Review
"...the arguments...throughout the book are presented lucidly...the book is never dull."
--College Literature
About the Author
Robert S. Sturges is Professor of English at the University of New Orleans.
Table of Contents
Introduction: The Pardoner in Discourse: Theories, Histories, Methods * Contexts: The Pardoners Genders, Sexes, Erotic Practices * The Pardoners Genders: Linguistic and Other * The Pardoners (Over-)Sexed Body * The Pardoners Different Erotic Practices * Readings: Bodies, Voices, Texts * The Pardoner Unveiled * A Speaking and Singing Subject * The Dismemberment of the Pardoner * The Pardoner, the Preacher, and (Gender) Politics * Conclusions * The Pardoner In and Out of
The Canterbury Tales * Notes * Works Cited