Chaucer and Italian Culture (New Century Chaucer)

Chaucerian scholarship has long been intrigued by the nature and consequences of Chaucer’s exposure to Italian culture during his professional visits to Italy in the 1370s. In the eight chapters of Chaucer and Italian Culture , leading scholars take a fresh and holistic view of Chaucer’s engagement with Italian cultural practice, moving beyond the traditional ‘sources and analogues’ approach to reveal the varied strands of Italian literature, art, politics, and intellectual life which permeate Chaucer’s work. Each chapter unfolds, from a different lens, links between Chaucerian texts and Italian intellectual models, including poetics, choreography, visual art, classicism, diplomacy, and prophecy. Echoes of Petrarch, Dante, and Boccaccio reverberate throughout the book, across a rich and diverse landscape of Italian cultural legacies. Taken together, these eight chapters cover a wide range of theories and references while sharing a united understanding of the rich impact of Italian culture on Chaucer’s narrative art. Chaucerian scholarship has long been intrigued by the nature and consequences of Chaucer's exposure to Italian culture during his professional visits to Italy in the 1370s. In this volume, leading scholars take a new and more holistic view of Chaucer's engagement with Italian cultural practice, moving beyond the traditional 'sources and analogues' approach to reveal the varied strands of Italian literature, art, politics and intellectual life that permeate Chaucer's work. Each chapter examines from different angles links between Chaucerian texts and Italian intellectual models, including poetics, chorography, visual art, classicism, diplomacy and prophecy. Echoes of Petrarch, Dante and Boccaccio reverberate throughout the book, across a rich and diverse landscape of Italian cultural legacies. Together, the chapters cover a wide range of theory and reference, while sharing a united understanding of the rich impact of Italian culture on Chaucer's narrative art. Front Cover 1 Half-title Page 2 Series Page 3 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Contents 6 The Contributors 8 Introduction: Chaucer Imagines Italy 12 1. Chaucerian Diplomacy 28 2. The Haunting of Geoffrey Chaucer: Dante, Boccaccio and the Ghostly Poetics of the Trecento 56 3. Chorography and Topography: Italian Models and Chaucerian Strategies 102 4. Vision and Touch in Dante and Chaucer 132 5. The Aesthetics of ‘Wawes Grene’: Planets, Painting and Politics in Chaucer’s Knight’s Tale 156 6. The Prophetic Eagle in Italy, England and Wales: Dante, Chaucer and Insular Political Prophecy 180 7. ‘Trophee’ and Triumph in the Monk’s Tale 204 8. From Imitation to Invention: Chaucer’s Journey from The House of Fame to the Nun’s Priest’s Tale 228 Bibliography 252 Index 278 Backcover 290 A collection of eight original articles by leading scholars, which throw new light on Geoffrey Chaucer's engagement with Italian literature and culture in the late fourteenth century.