English Department                                                                                    Prof. Lawrence Besserman

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem                                                       tash”sad/2003-04

Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales (M.A.)

A study of Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales” in their historical context.  No prior knowledge of Middle English required.

Required text:  Larry D. Benson, ed., The Canterbury Tales (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2000).

Requirements and grading: reading of assignments before class and participation in class discussion, a brief (approx. ten-minute) oral-report on a critical article, and a 45-minute class presentation on one of the Canterbury Tales (50%); an 8-10 page term paper, due June 22 (50%).

Semester B: Tu/Th 12 - 2                                  

2.3       Introduction/General Prologue

4.3       General Prologue

9.3       Knight’s Tale

11.3                           “

16.3     Miller’s Tale

18.3     Reeve’s Tale

23.3     Man of Law’s Tale

25.3     Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale

30.3     Friar’s Tale

[1-16.4 Pesach vacation]

20.4     Summoner’s Tale

22.4     Clerk’s Tale

27.4     Merchant’s Tale          

29.4     Squire’s Tale

4.5       Franklin’s Tale

6.5       Physician’s Tale

11.5     Pardoner’s Tale

13.5     Shipman’s Tale

18.5     Prioress’s Tale

20.5     Sir Thopas

[25-26.5 Shavuot vacation]

1.6       Melibee

3.6       Monk’s Tale

8.6       Nun’s Priest’s Tale

10.6     Canon’s Yeoman’s Tale

15.6     Second Nun’s Tale

17.6     Manciple’s Tale

22.6     Parson’s Prologue and Tale

Chaucer: Selected Bibliography

[*=7 days loan, # = overnight, R = reserve desk]

R Benson, Larry D., gen. ed.  The Riverside Chaucer, 3rd ed. (Boston, 1987; Oxford, 1988).
[PR 1851/B46/1987]  The complete works of Chaucer, with full annotation, description of manuscripts, bibliography, etc.

R Benson, Larry D., and  Theodore M. Andersson, eds.  The Literary Context of Chaucer's Fabliaux: Texts and Translations.  Indianapolis, IN: Bobbs-Merrill, 1971.
PR 1912 A2 B4          1971/1266227.

#Bryan, W.  F., and Germaine Dempster, eds.  Sources and Analogues of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (1941; rpt. Humanities Press, 1958).  [PR 1912/A2/B7]

#Cooper, Helen.  The Canterbury Tales.  Oxford Guides to Chaucer (Oxford, 1989).
[PR 1874/C64] 

*Dinshaw, Carolyn.  Chaucer’s Sexual Poetics (Wisconsin, 1989).  [PR 1933/S35/D56]

*Donaldson, E. Talbot.  Speaking of Chaucer (London, 1970).  [PR 1924/D6]

*Hallissy, Margaret.  A Companion to Chaucer’s ‘Canterbury Tales’ (Westport CT and London, 1995). [PR 1874/H27]

*Howard, Donald R.  The Idea of the Canterbury Tales (California, 1976).  [PR 1874/H65]

*Kittredge, George Lyman.  Chaucer and His Poetry.  Cambridge, Mass., 1915. [PR 1924 K58]

Kolve, V. A., and Glending Olson, eds.  Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales: Nine Tales and the General Prologue (New York, 1989).  [PR 1866 K64K64] 

Lewis, Clive Staples.  The Discarded Image: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature.  1964. Cambridge, Eng.: Cambridge UP, 1967. [PN 671 L39/0111711] [4 copies on the shelf]

*Lumiansky, Robert M.  Of Sondry Folk: The Dramatic Principle in the Canterbury Tales.  Austin, TX, 1955.  [PR 1874 L8 1980]

#Mann, Jill.  Chaucer and Medieval Estates Satire: The Literature of Social Classes and the General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales.  Cambridge, Eng. 1973).  [PR 1868/P9/M3]

# Miller, Robert P., ed.  Chaucer: Sources and Backgrounds (Oxford, 1977). [PR 1912/A2/C38]

*Muscatine, Charles.  Chaucer and the French Tradition: A Study in Style and Meaning (California, 1957).  [PR 1924/M88]

Patterson, Lee.  Chaucer and the Subject of History (Wisconsin, 1991).  [PR 1933/H57/P38]

R Pearsall, Derek.  The Canterbury Tales (London, 1985).  [PR/1874/P42]

*Robertson, D. W., Jr.  A Preface to Chaucer: Studies in Medieval Perspectives (Princeton, 1962).  [PR 1924/R58]

*- - -.  Chaucer’s London (London, 1968).  [DA 680/R6]

#Rowland, Beryl, ed.  Companion to Chaucer Studies, revised ed. (Toronto, 1979).
[PR 1924/C65/1979]

*Schoeck, Richard J. and Jerome Taylor, eds.  Chaucer Criticism, 2 vols.; vol. 1, The Canterbury Tales (Notre Dame, Ind., 1960).  [PR 1924/S36] [multiple copies on shelf]

*Strohm, Paul.  Social Chaucer (Cambridge, MA, 1989).  [PR 1913/S59/S77]