By focusing on one literary character, as interpreted in both verbal art and visual art at a point midway in time between the author's era and our own, this study applies methodology appropriate for overcoming limitations posed by historical periodization and by isolation among academic specialities. Current trends in Chaucer scholarship call for diachronic afterlife studies like this one, sometimes termed "medievalism." So far, however, nearly all such work by-passes the eighteenth century (here designated 1660-1810). Furthermore, medieval authors' afterlives during any time period have not been analyzed by way of the multiple fields of specialization integrated into this study. The Wife of Bath is regarded through the disciplinary lenses of eighteenth-century literature, visual art, print marketing, education, folklore, music, equitation, and especially theater both in London and on the Continent.

About the Author
Betsy Bowden is professor emerita of English at Rutgers University.

Reviews
Providing a stunning survey of the Wife of Bath's afterlife in the long eighteenth century, Betsy Bowden offers nuanced readings of translations, modernizations, stage plays, book illustrations, and artistic representations. This is an important contribution to Chaucer's reception history, attesting to the centrality of the Wife of Bath in the poet's continuing canonicity. -- Kathleen Forni, Professor of English, Loyola University



Book Information
ISBN 9781611462432
Author Betsy Bowden
Format Hardback
Page Count 416
Imprint Lehigh University Press
Publisher Lehigh University Press
Weight(grams) 835g
Dimensions(mm) 238mm * 158mm * 30mm