Censoring Chaucer · Canonicity and Obscenity in Manuscripts and Print Editions of the Canterbury Tales (c. 1400 - 1831)
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2018-09-01 → 2020-08-31
- EU contribution
- €195,455
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Censoring Chaucer: Canonicity and Obscenity in Manuscripts and Print Editions of the Canterbury Tales (c. 1400 - 1831)
The primary objective of this project was to investigate the relationship between Geoffrey Chaucer’s canonical status in English literary history and his obscenity (i.e. his use of sexual and scatological language and content), both of which are most closely associated with The Canterbury Tales. This investigation took a two-pronged approach, examining (1) different versions of The Canterbury Tales produced during the period considered by this project and (2) references and allusions to Chaucer and his work recorded during the same chronological period. My interest in literary obscenity’s capacity to cause offense arose directly from present-day debates regarding how—or whether—to regulate offensive language and literature. Both within and beyond Europe, we continue to grapple with the question of how best to gauge and forestall the offense that language and literature can cause, whether in relation to ‘hate speech’, racism, and sexism, or in relation to recent debates concerning ‘trigger warnings’ and ‘microaggressions’ within academia. My project constitutes an opportunity to reassess these questions from a new perspective.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
This project investigates the relationship between Chaucer's canonical status and his obscenity, both of which have been closely associated with the Canterbury Tales since Chaucer's death in 1400. Readers of the Canterbury Tales have made note of its occasionally indecorous language and content (particularly in relation to sex, the body, and bodily functions) ever since the earliest surviving manuscript was compiled c. 1405. But whereas obscenity is one of the major features of Chaucer's reputation in the eyes of present-day readers, many medieval and early modern readers viewed Chaucer’s obscene matter as standing at odds with his canonicity. This project traces the building tension between Chaucer's perceived obscenity and his literary reputation from his death in 1400 to the publication of poet laureate Robert Southey's expurgated version of the Canterbury Tales in 1831. By examining variations in the language and content of manuscripts, incunables, and print editions of the Canterbury Tales produced within this period (as well as reader annotations), I will show that scribes, readers, editors, and modernizers of Chaucer's most famous work persistently modify or comment on its language and content in an effort to downplay (or, occasionally, to enhance) what they perceive as obscene. I situate my findings alongside contemporaneous remarks by writers and editors regarding Chaucer's literary heritage in order to assess the relationship between variations in his reputation and variations in the Canterbury Tales. The project incorporates intensive training in the study of manuscripts and early printed books, and will result in at least 2 scholarly articles, a book proposal, and several conference presentations and public engagement initiatives intended to communicate my results to the widest possible audience. A MSCA Fellowship at the University of Oxford will enable me to work closely with a leading expert in the history of the book over the course of the project.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- THE CHANCELLOR, MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD · OxfordCoordinatorUnited Kingdom
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union