Literature and Religion in the Later Middle Ages: Philological Studies in Honor of Siegfried Wenzel ed. by Richard G. Newhauser and John A. Alford (review)

STUDIES IN THE AGE OF CHAUCER be twofold-"scholars working in the field" and a lay-readership, specifically those who may have witnessed a modern revival of a me­ dieval play (p. xiii). The discussion seems addressed to the latter, providing a "reader-friendly" guide to the subject, whereas the main in­ terest for the scholar lies in the specifics of the notes and apparatus. The chapters are short and punctuated by subsections, sometimes shorter than a page, that break the text into "manageable" units. The biblical narratives are paraphrased for an audience not versed in the subject. The approach is, as promised, a data-centered survey that offers no model of comparative method for the student reader to follow; but it is executed with evident enthusiasm and energy and is indeed a tour de force that the general reader can enjoy. And for the specialist the book is impressive in its range and learn­ ing. I am left with profound admiration for Muir's knowledge, powers of assimilation, and sheer courage in attempting this enterprise. She has done us a considerable service in revealing the wealth of material now available. This is a book that all who work in medieval drama should have on their shelves for reference, and one that should encourage all for whom "medieval theatre" still means "medieval English theatre" to widen their horizons. DAVID MILLS University of Liverpool RICHARD G. NEWHAUSER and JOHN A. ALFORD, eds. Literature and Religion in the Later MiddleAges: PhilologicalStudies in Honor a/Siegfried Wenzel. Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, vol. 118. Binghamton: Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, 1995. Pp. ix, 414. $25.00. This collection of seventeen essays offers its readers a satisfying repast of several courses, ranging from literary studies of Chaucer and Langland through historical studies of religious writers and their works to editions ofselected pastoral and devotional texts. The broad guiding principle behind the volume, as the editors observe, is one that has con­ sistently marked Professor Wenzel's scholarly practice: the "philologi282 REVIEWS cal orientation" (p. 1), centered always on "the text in its historical sur­ roundings" (p. 2). The editors have clustered the essays under five authorial and generic headings: Chaucer (four essays, by Theo Stemmler, Piero Boitani, Edward B. Irving, Jr., and Albert E. Hartung); Langland (three, by Ralph Hanna III,JohnA.Alford, andJoan HeigesBlythe); pastoral lit­ erature (four, byJosephGoering,A.G. Rigg,A. I. Doyle, Christina von Nokken); Scripture and homiletics (four, by A.J. Minnis, Kent Emery, Jr., D. L. D'Avray, David Anderson); and lyric poetry (two, by Karl Reichl, Richard Newhauser). In "Chaucer'sBallade 'To Rosemounde'-A Parody?" Stemmler takes a skeptical look at the longstanding critical claim that the short poem "To Rosemounde" was written in a humorous vein, and answers his title question with a decided negative, by comparing evidence cited in ear­ lier interpretations with usage in various nonparodic English love­ poetry. Boitani and Irving offer interpretive readings of The Nun's Priest's Tale and The Knight's Tale, respectively. Hartung's essay, '"The Parson's Tale' and Chaucer's Penance," may be the most provocative within the Chaucer section: he identifies passages (mainly sexual in con­ tent) in The Parson's Tale that show a particular "intensity of response" (p. 68) to the tale's sources and suggests that this intensity may reflect some specific personal concern with the issues raised in those passages. In the Langland section, Alford argues for a specific source and com­ positional method for Conscience's dinner party in Piers Plowman B, namely Hugh of St. Cher's commentary on Proverbs 23 and the concord­ ing scriptural cross-references common to biblical exegesis. Blythe surveys the whole span of the poem for its treatments of sins of the tongue, placing them in the context of the penitential tradition to suggest that "language-related failure in Piers Plowman is not language's fault" (p. 119). Perhaps the most interesting of these essays is Hanna's "Robert the Ruyflare and His Companions," which explores the implications of a complex pattern ofB to C revisions in the confession of the sins and finds in those revisions a convincing weave of intertextual...