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  3. Lies, Slander and Obscenity in Medieval English Literature
  • Cited by 29
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:
October 2009
Print publication year:
1997
Online ISBN:
9780511585289
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511585289
Subjects:
Literature, Literary Theory, Anglo Saxon and Medieval Literature
Series:
Cambridge Studies in Medieval Literature (31)
Information

Book description

Drawing on manuscript sources, this book examines how the medieval clergy developed the authority and persuasive force to attempt to govern the day-to-day speech of Western Christians. It shows how attempts were made to portray some political, social and private speech as deviant and destructive, labelling it lying, slander, blasphemy and other Sins of the Tongue. It explores, for the first time, how Chaucer, Langland, Gower and the 'Patience' poet use the different strains of this pastoral discourse not only to expose the destructive power of speech in political and social life but also to judge clerical claims to authority and efficacy in formulating and applying codes of speech.

Reviews

‘This is a highly scholarly and very illuminating contribution to our knowledge of the way in which pastoral and literary discourse interact in the Middle Ages.’

Source: The Times Literary Supplement

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