Ethics and Exemplary Narrative in Chaucer and Gower

by J. Allan Mitchell

Why do medieval writers routinely make use of exemplary rhetoric? How does it work, and what are its ethical and poetical values? And if Chaucer and Gower must be seen as vigorously subverting it, then why do they persist in using it? Borrowing from recent developments in ethical criticism and theory, this book addresses such questions by reconstructing a late medieval rationale for the ethics of exemplary narrative. The author argues that Chaucer's...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1843840197
• ISBN13: 9781843840190
• Release Date: October 2004
• Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
• Length: 166 Pages
• Weight: 0.92 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.5" x 9.5"