{"product_id":"framing-the-canterbury-tales","title":"Framing the Canterbury Tales","description":"A clear emphasis on literary antecedents of the \u003ci\u003eCanterbury Tales\u003c\/i\u003e differentiates this book from most criticism of Chaucer's work. Katharine S. Gittes finds a blending of two frame narrative traditions in the \u003ci\u003eCanterbury Tales\u003c\/i\u003e, one that originated in India and the Near East and the other in ancient Greece. To illustrate this dual literary tradition, Gittes compares Chaucer's work to a selection of pre-Chaucerian frame narratives that influenced his form directly or indirectly, and other narratives contemporary with Chaucer, that, in their likenesses or differences, illuminate the methodology of the Canterbury Tales.\n\nCovering materials written in eight different languages, \u003ci\u003eFraming the Canterbury Tales\u003c\/i\u003e includes discussion of the Indian-Arabic \u003ci\u003ePanchatantra\u003c\/i\u003e, Boccaccio's \u003ci\u003eDecameron\u003c\/i\u003e, Gower's \u003ci\u003eConfessio Amantis\u003c\/i\u003e, and both Eastern and Western versions of the \u003ci\u003eBook of Sinbad\u003c\/i\u003e. Gittes addresses the relationship between the framing stories and the tales, the degree of open-endedness in theme and structure, aesthetic principles, didactic elements, the significance of prologues and epilogues, the travel\/pilgrimmage motif, the function of the narrator, and the degree of characterization in both Eastern and Western frame narratives. An examination of Eastern and Western elements in Chaucer's \u003ci\u003eCanterbury Tales\u003c\/i\u003e reveals the existing tension between the two, and the ingenious way Chaucer responds to and makes the most of this tension. Eastern features include the open-endedness, the random ordering of tales, and the mode of narration; Western elements include the dramatic features, the grouping or pairing of tales, the symmetry and the recurring motifs. In examining different cultural outlooks and a variety of different, non-literary disciplines, Gittes expands the field of Chaucer criticism. Her book will interest students and scholars of diverse cultures and literary periods, as well as Chaucer enthusiasts.","brand":"Bloomsbury Publishing Plc","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54219404443992,"sku":"9780313278068","price":70.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0278\/1295\/4195\/files\/9780313278068_9f9a6a7f-9288-4075-b5e7-6c9baf62625a.jpg?v=1743757249","url":"https:\/\/agendabookshop.com\/products\/framing-the-canterbury-tales","provider":"Agenda Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}