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A focus on the aspects of love often left out by medieval romances and the crossing of the borders of social conventions lie at the heart of the fabliaux. By breaking numerous taboos, fabliau texts constitute a stark contrast to the established teachings of the Church prevalent in most medieval texts.
In this course central examples of the genre including “Dame Sirith” as well as Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Miller’s Tale” and “The Reeve‘s Tale” will be analysed in the light of their historic context. In order to gain full understanding of the Middle English fabliaux and their context, we will also discuss medieval culture and world views, as well as similar genres that established in other countries (most notably France and Germany) throughout the Middle Ages.
Recommended version of Chaucer texts: Larry D. Benson (ed.). The Riverside Chaucer. 3rd edition. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1987.
Recommended secondary literature: Hines, John. The Fabliau in English. London: Longman, 1993 |
