Abstract

Specialists of Chaucer and his contemporaries will be the audience for this volume on the poet's use of Aristotelian psychology, Boethius, Dante, and French court poets to create aspects of courtly identity through language and experience. St. John (English, U. of Leicester, UK) provides detailed analyses of the Book of the Duchess, House of Fame, Parliament of Fowls, and Legend of Good Women to develop his case. He shows that Chaucer's use of the dream vision can be interpreted as an exploration of individual subjectivity in a social context, an expression of Chaucer's Christian beliefs, and his awareness of the dialogue courtly society engenders. Annotation copyrighted by Book News Inc., Portland, OR.