This study charts relationships between moral claims and audience response in medieval exemplary works by such poets as Chaucer, Gower, Robert Henryson, and several anonymous scribes. In late medieval England, exemplary works make one of the strongest possible claims for the social value of poetic fiction. Studying this debate reveals a set of local literary histories, based on both canonical and non-canonical texts, that complicate received notions of the didactic Middle Ages, the sophisticated Renaissance, and the fallow fifteenth century in between.

Autorentext
ELIZABETH ALLEN is Assistant Professor of English, University of California-Irvine, USA.

Inhalt
Introduction: Questions From a Gestalt Moment PART I: PROMISE OF TRANSFORMATION Theory and Context Violence, Capital Flows and Bargaining Power Financial Globalisation, Debt Negotiations and Reform Negotiating Economic Justice: Globalisation or Socialism? Revolution at a Bargain? PART II: FRUSTRATIONS OF MARKET RULE Globalist and Non-Sexist? Negotiating Democracy Conclusion: The Failure of Transformation