The Wife of Bath

by Chaucer, Geoffrey; Beidler, Peter G.

• ISBN13: 9780312111281
• ISBN10: 0312111282
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1995-12-15
• Publisher: Bedford/St. Martin's

Summary

Adopted at more than 1,000 colleges and universities, Bedford/St. Martin's innovativeCase Studies in Contemporary Criticismseries has introduced more than a quarter of a million students to literary theory and earned enthusiastic praise nationwide. Along with an authoritative text of a major literary work, each volume presents critical essays, selected or prepared especially for students, that approach the work from several contemporary critical perspectives, such as gender criticism and cultural studies. Each essay is accompanied by an introduction (with bibliography) to the history, principles, and practice of its critical perspective. Every volume also surveys the biographical, historical, and critical contexts of the literary work and concludes with a glossary of critical terms. New editions reprint cultural documents that contextualize the literary works and feature essays that show how critical perspectives can be combined.

Table of Contents

About the Series	v	(2)
About This Volume	vii
PART ONE The Wife of Bath: The Complete Text	3	(86)
Biographical and Historical Contexts	3	(25)
Introduction to the Text	28	(14)
The Complete Text	42	(47)
Description of the Wife of Bath from the General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales	42	(2)
The Prologue to the Wife of Bath's Tale	44	(29)
The Wife of Bath's Tale	73	(16)
PART TWO The Wife of Bath: A Case Study in Contemporary Criticism	89	(202)
A Critical History of the Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale	89	(26)
The New Historicism and the Wife of Bath	115	(40)
What Is the New Historicism?	115	(11)
The New Historicism: A Selected Bibliography	126	(5)
A New Historicism Perspective	131	(2)
LEE PATTERSON
"Experience woot well it is noght so": Marriage and the Pursuit of Happiness in the Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale	133	(22)
Marxist Criticism and the Wife of Bath	155	(34)
What Is Marxist Criticism?	155	(11)
Marxist Criticism: A Selected Bibliography	166	(3)
A Marxist Perspective	169	(2)
LAURIE FINKE
"All is for to selle": Breeding Capital in the Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale	171	(18)
Psychoanalytic Criticism and the Wife of Bath	189	(32)
What Is Psychoanalytic Criticism?	189	(10)
Psychoanalytic Criticism: A Selected Bibliography	199	(4)
A Psychoanalytic Perspective	203	(2)
LOUISE O. FRADENBURG
"Fulfild of fairye": The Social Meaning of Fantasy in the Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale	205	(16)
Deconstruction and the Wife of Bath	221	(34)
What Is Deconstruction?	221	(8)
Deconstruction: A Selected Bibliography	229	(3)
A Deconstructionist Perspective	232	(2)
H. MARSHALL LEICESTER, JR.
"My bed was ful of verray blood": Subject, Dream, and Rape in the Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale	234	(21)
Feminist Criticism and the Wife of Bath	255	(36)
What Is Feminist Criticism?	255	(7)
Feminist Criticism: A Selected Bibliography	262	(9)
A Feminist Perspective	271	(2)
ELAINE TUTTLE HANSEN
"Of his love daungerous to me": Liberation, Subversion, and Domestic Violence in the Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale	273	(18)
Glossary of Critical and Theoretical Terms	291	(14)
About the Contributors	305