On Not Being Chaucer

Q2 Arts and Humanities
Ruth Evans
{"title":"On Not Being Chaucer","authors":"Ruth Evans","doi":"10.1353/sac.2022.0028","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:Chaucer's place in the canon and on the syllabus has at various times during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, in various places around the world, been questioned by students, academics, administrators, and professional organizations, in response to very specific and often highly localized cultural, historical, and institutional factors. The history and nature of those factors are instructive if we want to continue to make the case for the value of studying Chaucer. In this address I consider some of the national and international contexts that have put pressure on the study of Chaucer, contexts that include US and UK responses to institutional racism, and feminist literary criticism's critique of Chaucer's sexism and of the institutionalization of feminist criticism. I consider some of the historical rejections of Chaucer, from that of the black British writer David Dabydeen in the 1970s to the brief flare of the Chaucer Wars of 2021. I argue that decentering Chaucer needs an informed critique of how canons are constructed and of the specific ways in which they are ethnocentric and non-representative. I then consider some of the ways in which Chaucer's work has been reimagined in positive political ways, such as Refugee Tales. I argue that we should continue to read Chaucer because his writings and the history of their reception continue to generate new and important ways of understanding the past history of race and racism, and thus enable the envisioning of more hopeful futures for Chaucerian scholars and our students.","PeriodicalId":53678,"journal":{"name":"Studies in the Age of Chaucer","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2022-12-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Studies in the Age of Chaucer","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1353/sac.2022.0028","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"Arts and Humanities","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0

Abstract

Abstract:Chaucer's place in the canon and on the syllabus has at various times during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, in various places around the world, been questioned by students, academics, administrators, and professional organizations, in response to very specific and often highly localized cultural, historical, and institutional factors. The history and nature of those factors are instructive if we want to continue to make the case for the value of studying Chaucer. In this address I consider some of the national and international contexts that have put pressure on the study of Chaucer, contexts that include US and UK responses to institutional racism, and feminist literary criticism's critique of Chaucer's sexism and of the institutionalization of feminist criticism. I consider some of the historical rejections of Chaucer, from that of the black British writer David Dabydeen in the 1970s to the brief flare of the Chaucer Wars of 2021. I argue that decentering Chaucer needs an informed critique of how canons are constructed and of the specific ways in which they are ethnocentric and non-representative. I then consider some of the ways in which Chaucer's work has been reimagined in positive political ways, such as Refugee Tales. I argue that we should continue to read Chaucer because his writings and the history of their reception continue to generate new and important ways of understanding the past history of race and racism, and thus enable the envisioning of more hopeful futures for Chaucerian scholars and our students.
论不做乔叟
摘要:乔叟在正典和教学大纲中的地位在二十世纪和二十一世纪的不同时期,在世界各地,由于非常具体且往往高度本地化的文化、历史和制度因素,受到了学生、学者、行政人员和专业组织的质疑。如果我们想继续证明研究乔叟的价值,这些因素的历史和性质是有指导意义的。在这篇演讲中,我考虑了一些给乔叟研究带来压力的国家和国际背景,包括美国和英国对制度性种族主义的回应,以及女权主义文学批评对乔叟性别歧视和女权主义批评制度化的批评。我考虑了一些对乔叟的历史拒绝,从20世纪70年代英国黑人作家大卫·达比登的拒绝,到2021年乔叟战争的短暂爆发。我认为,体面的乔叟需要对经典的构建方式以及它们以种族为中心和非代表性的具体方式进行知情的批判。然后,我考虑了乔叟的作品以积极的政治方式被重新想象的一些方式,比如《难民故事》。我认为,我们应该继续阅读乔叟,因为他的著作及其接受历史继续为理解过去的种族和种族主义历史创造新的重要途径,从而为乔叟学者和我们的学生设想更有希望的未来。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
求助全文
约1分钟内获得全文 求助全文
来源期刊
Studies in the Age of Chaucer
Studies in the Age of Chaucer Arts and Humanities-Literature and Literary Theory
CiteScore
0.30
自引率
0.00%
发文量
0
×
引用
GB/T 7714-2015
复制
MLA
复制
APA
复制
导出至
BibTeX EndNote RefMan NoteFirst NoteExpress
×
提示
您的信息不完整,为了账户安全,请先补充。
现在去补充
×
提示
您因"违规操作"
具体请查看互助需知
我知道了
×
提示
确定
请完成安全验证×
copy
已复制链接
快去分享给好友吧!
我知道了
右上角分享
点击右上角分享
0
联系我们:info@booksci.cn Book学术提供免费学术资源搜索服务,方便国内外学者检索中英文文献。致力于提供最便捷和优质的服务体验。 Copyright © 2023 布克学术 All rights reserved.
京ICP备2023020795号-1
ghs 京公网安备 11010802042870号
Book学术文献互助
Book学术文献互助群
群 号:481959085
Book学术官方微信