Interesting piece in the paper today repudiating the raptus accusations against Chaucer. TLDR; he and the woman were on the same side of the case, not her accusing him. They’re thinking she left employment before the term of contract to go work for Chaucer, and the previous employer sued.
Hoping the link doesn’t bring you to a paywall.
@stradmom, Wow, talk about timing! Thank you for posting that article.
But this week, two scholars stunned the world of Chaucer studies with previously unknown documents that they say show that the “raptus” document was not in fact related to an accusation of rape against Chaucer at all.
…
The presentation, which included commentary from three prominent feminist Chaucer scholars, caused a stunned reaction among medievalists — including amazement that the researchers, who had given only the barest hint of the discovery in advance, had pulled off a publicity coup akin, as the literary scholar Jonathan Hsy put it on Twitter, to “a Beyoncé album drop.”
As I said earlier in this discussion, I’m always amazed when “previously unknown” historical documents are unearthed. It brings to mind both Possession and The Weight of Ink (two of my favorite CC discussions, so I guess I like historical / literary sleuthing). From the NYT re the Chaucer discovery:
Next, he and Sobecki wondered if they could find the original writ that had started the case in motion, which was presumably in the records of the King’s Bench, the most senior criminal court in England from the 13th to the 18th century, which are currently held in deep storage in a salt mine in Cheshire. (In the 1950s and 1960s, when scholars compiled all known life records relating to Chaucer, these records were mostly inaccessible.)
Late last year, Roger ordered the bundles that he suspected fit the time frame. They arrived still in their original wrappers, and speared by the catgut filament clerks used to hold piles of pages together — a sign, Roger said, that few people, if anyone, had looked at them in hundreds of years.
Incredible!
Here you go: Peyton Place - December CC Book Club Selection
Hi guys – I’ve been MIA because I couldn’t get a copy of The Wife of Bath from any library near me. And I don’t buy books. So there you have it.
I am thrilled that we’re going to be reading Peyton Place!! Yes, it’s racy in places, so be prepared for that, but IMO for the most part the raciness furthers the plot. And also IMO, the plot is remarkably feminist for the '50s!! Also, I think Metalious is a really good writer – I think her language is beautiful.
Regarding Lessons in Chemistry, I read it and loved it – so much so that I immediately re-read it. Again, feminist in nature, and during the 1950s!! I certainly didn’t know anyone feminist back in those days, so it’s refreshing.
I’m now reading The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott – it’s her first novel – and I’m finding it fascinating so far.
Happened to see this today: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/09/books/review/the-wife-of-bath-marion-turner.html
Thanks @mathmom for The NY Times discovery ….
From the link above
“ Turner, an English professor at Jesus College, Oxford, situates Alison of Bath in her medieval context. She piles up fascinating evidence about women’s economic power in England after the Black Death, about the anxieties independent widows like Alison provoked in society, about women’s hopes for healing (and fear of assault) on pilgrimages to shrines across Europe and beyond. The history of women in the Middle Ages is fraught with uncertainties, especially when it comes to source material and authorship; Turner unfurls this complexity in elegant, quietly angry prose, grounded in deep scholarly research.
The second half of the book traces the afterlife of the Wife of Bath, her reinventions in literature and performance from the 15th century to today. Turner shows how Shakespeare transformed Alison into Falstaff, a character inspired by Alison’s wordplay, her celebration of the body’s wants; and how James Joyce used her as a model for Molly Bloom, another sexually vibrant woman who questions the male canon: “sure theres nothing for a woman in all that invention made up.”