From: "Mark Weiss" <[log in to unmask]>
> Tweren't I that used the term. I don't think that I referred to Chaucer's
> attitude towards Jews at all.
> >Ergo: to talk of Chaucer as 'anti-Semitic, as y'did, is to be
anachronistic
> >and, what's more, to be not conscious enough of the rather insane
> >complexities involved. As I say, pedantic, but pertinent...
> >
> >ColinGHughes
To be a little pedantic on my own account, having used (which I now
unreservedly withdraw) the term antisemitic, I did so with reference to
"The Prioress's Tale", not to Chaucer (or even "Chaucer") 's views. The
tale is retailed by the Prioress, who isn't (to say the least) an
unequivocally admirable figure as she's presented in the Prologue. It's
not, after all, given to an "admirable" character such as The Poor Parson.
But if Mark will forgive me for returning to this, I think the issues of
when Chaucer speaks, when "Chaucer" speaks, and when a character speaks
+are+ relevant to how we respond to The Recantation.
For all of me, the closest I feel myself coming to the words of
Chaucer-the-Man are in his preface to his Treatise of the Astrolabe, when
he talks of writing it for "Little Lewis my son".
Robin Hamilton
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|