Brand chaucer: The poet and the nation

Martin Laidlaw

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

    Abstract

    This chapter focuses on how the works and biography of Brand Chaucer have been interpreted towards criticism of inequality and oppression in our contemporary society. Chaucer’s employment as a viable vehicle for propaganda may be seen in the printed editions of his works that appear in the sixteenth century. This employment of the Caxtonian position places Chaucer among the pantheon of writers such as Ennius and Dante who were viewed to be pivotal in the construction of a national language and identity. Contemporary adaptations of Geoffrey Chaucer can be broadly categorised into two types of medievalism: the use of the characters of Geoffrey Chaucer, and the representation of Geoffrey Chaucer himself. Pier Paolo Pasolini’s I Racconti di Canterbury, unlike Tacit Theatre’s “The Canterbury Tales,” employs the figure of Chaucer as a quasi-narrator, and the character is seen to observe his surroundings, and crucially his fellow pilgrims, while constructing the text that forms the basis of the film.

    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationFrom Medievalism to Early-Modernism
    Subtitle of host publicationAdapting the English Past
    EditorsMarina Gerzic, Aidan Norrie
    Place of PublicationNew York
    PublisherTaylor & Francis
    Chapter4
    Pages52-66
    Number of pages15
    ISBN (Electronic)9780429683015
    ISBN (Print)9781138366572
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 20 Nov 2018

    Publication series

    NameRoutledge Studies in Medieval Literature and Culture
    PublisherRoutledge

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • General Arts and Humanities

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