The Physician's Tale
1987
First Published
3.32
Average Rating
202
Number of Pages
Part Seventeen The Physician’s Tale, somewhat neglected during the nineteenth century, has enjoyed a resurgence of scholarly attention over the past quarter century. The early sources of the tale bequeathed to Chaucer an exemplum of the abuse of a father kills his daughter to prevent an unscrupulous judge from taking possession of her. In Chaucer’s hands, however, the tale undergoes a number of changes and additions by which it becomes peculiarly his. Helen Storm Corsa gives scrupulous attention to the strategies by which Chaucer appropriates the tale, particularly the addition of the long passage dealing with the topic of Natura Genetrix and the surprising advice to governesses on the care of their charges, a section that has yielded a considerable amount of political commentary. Taken together, the two passages lend the tale a rich intertexuality that makes it, in Corsa’s survey, a fruitful source of interpretation for scholarship. Corsa demonstrates above all else that The Physician’s Tale will continue to make tantalizing claims on our interest and attention. Most interesting of all, she shows, is that Chaucer seems deliberately to have set aside both the political and the moral implications of his originals for the sake of artistic ends-definition of which continues to challenge the scholarly community. This unusually full treatment of The Physician’s Tale should prove to be an indispensable aid to student and teacher alike.
Avg Rating
3.32
Number of Ratings
47
5 STARS
17%
4 STARS
23%
3 STARS
38%
2 STARS
17%
1 STARS
4%
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Author
Geoffrey Chaucer
Author · 68 books
Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343 – October 25, 1400?) was an English author, poet, philosopher, bureaucrat, courtier and diplomat. Although he wrote many works, he is best remembered for his unfinished frame narrative The Canterbury Tales. Sometimes called the father of English literature, Chaucer is credited by some scholars as being the first author to demonstrate the artistic legitimacy of the vernacular English language, rather than French or Latin.
