Canterbury Tales – Critical Readings

Constance and Her Child Leaving Northumberland, by Warwick Goble

CR Episode 82: Canterbury Tales IV – The Man of Law’s Tale

14 June 2021 S. P. Cooper

The panel examines The Man of Law's Tale and scholarly arguments about whether it is suited to its putative teller, and consider the tale's depictions of crime and justice (temporal and divine), constancy, providence, misadventure, and religious strife.

CR Episode 81: Canterbury Tales III – The Miller’s, Reeve’s, and Cook’s Tales

7 June 2021 S. P. Cooper

Leaving behind the Knight's noble depictions of courtly love, the panel descends through bawdy, sexual misadventures in the form of 'quites'--narrative responses--offered by the drunken Miller and the vengeful Reeve, and the Cook's incomplete tale.

CR Episode 79: Canterbury Tales I – General Prologue

24 May 2021 S. P. Cooper

In the first week of the Canterbury Tales series, the panel reviews the biography of Geoffrey Chaucer, introduces the Canterbury Tales in general, and then reads selections from the General Prologue, with emphasis on Chaucer's development of character.