{"product_id":"9780472122813","title":"The Critics and the Prioress: Antisemitism, Criticism, and Chaucer's Prioress's Tale","description":"Of all the \u003ci\u003eCanterbury Tales,\u003c\/i\u003e Geoffrey Chaucer’s \u003ci\u003ePrioress’s Tale\u003c\/i\u003e, in which a young schoolboy is murdered by Jews for singing a song in praise of the Virgin Mary, poses a problem to contemporary readers because of the antisemitism of the story it tells. Both the \u003ci\u003eTale\u003c\/i\u003e’s antisemitism and its “Chaucerianism”—its fitness or aptness as part of the Chaucerian canon—are significant topics of reflection for modern readers, who worry about the \u003ci\u003eTale\u003c\/i\u003e’s ethical implications as well as Chaucer’s own implications. Over the past fifty years, scholars have asked: Is the antisemitism in the tale that of the Prioress? Or of Chaucer the pilgrim? Or of Chaucer the author? Or, indeed, whether one ought to discuss antisemitism in the \u003ci\u003ePrioress’s Tale\u003c\/i\u003e at all, considering the potential anachronism of expecting medieval texts to conform to contemporary ideologies.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eThe Critics and the Prioress\u003c\/i\u003e responds to a critical stalemate between the demands of ethics and the entailments of methodology. The book addresses key moments in criticism of the \u003ci\u003ePrioress’s Tale\u003c\/i\u003e—particularly those that stage an encounter between historicism and ethics—in order to interrogate these critical impasses while suggesting new modes for future encounters. It is an effort to identify, engage, and reframe some significant—and perennially repeated—arguments staked out in this criticism, such as the roles of gender, aesthetics, source studies, and the appropriate relationship between ethics and historicism.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eThe Critics and the Prioress\u003c\/i\u003e will be an essential resource for Chaucer scholars researching as well as teaching the \u003ci\u003ePrioress’s Tale\u003c\/i\u003e. Scholars and students of Middle English literature and medieval culture more generally will also be interested in this book’s rigorous analysis of contemporary scholarly approaches to expressions of antisemitism in Chaucer’s England.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e  ","brand":"University of Michigan Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47122059788528,"sku":"9780472122813","price":54.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780472122813_p0.jpg?v=1763707190","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780472122813","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}