Geoffrey Chaucer and the Poetics of Disguise (review)

This book is the result of an evidently long and deep engagement with the poetry of Geoffrey Chaucer. Its central thesis is that Chaucer deployed a poetics of disguise in order to criticize those in power around him, with a particular focus on the abuses of Richard II. This poetics, it is argued, comprises an amalgam of techniques, from the creation of composite figures, to the very subtle and playful use of "auctoritees," to the use of seeming praise. These all enable Chaucer to criticize without risking disfavor. One of the main methodologies that Quinn uses to tie together all of these aspects is to trace the recurrence of what she sees as key words. Thus Chaucer's work is always read as referring to one historical event or another, and his characters are often contemporary figures in disguise. If the result is at times intriguing, it is ultimately not convincing and indeed often infuriates with its speculative connections and allusions.

Chapter 1 is a synthetic presentation of the politically and socially turbulent decades of Chaucer's most productive literary period, from the 1370s onward. It suggests that the use of terms such as "traitour," "pardoun," "lawe," "treasoun," and "oath" are productively read against the backdrop of such political turmoil. Four words are afforded particular attention in the following chapters: "love," "deth," "synne," and "trouthe."

Chapter 2, "Dream Worlds," is an analysis of three of Chaucer's dream-vision poems. Each is given an extended descriptive exposition. The Book of the Duchess, which is seen as an occasional poem on the death of Blanche of Lancaster, is described as a "deeply felt, subtly nuanced work of art, a treasure in itself and the beginning of what was to become a vast, varied, intricate, and wide-ranging body of poetry extending far beyond the courtly world" (28). The House of Fame further explores the dynamics of the dream vision and shows a Chaucer who has a clearer sense of his own individuality, as a person and a poet. For Quinn, a line like HF 1878, "I wot myself best how y stonde," provides a key to the House of Fame and Chaucer's "poetics of disguise." Love is the central theme in the Parliament of Fowls, and through the debate of the birds Chaucer explores the theme of choice. Here Quinn rightly highlights the fact that the formel eagle is not indecisive but rather delays her decision for another year. The Parliament explores, in her historical reading, a number of related issues, such as the meaning and kinds of love, the responsibilities of kingship, class, and gender differences, and the importance of choice.

In Chapter 3, "Pagan Worlds," Quinn looks at the Troilus, The Legend of Good Women, and briefly at Anelida and Arcite. The Troilus has Chaucer explore more fully "the interrelatedness of love, war, and politics" (55), especially through the freedom offered by his disguised auctor, Lollius. One aspect of the poem on which Quinn concentrates is the astrological content; given that astrology was popular at the court of Richard II, this is read as a veiled criticism of such practices: "Chaucer conveys his criticism of the English aristocracy's interest in astrology and veils his own negative views, not only by representing the two most devious Trojans as astrologers but by introducing astrological allusions at crucial points in the narrative. Moreover, by alternately referring to pagan deities and planetary bodies, thus calling to mind the misbehavior of the gods and the blameless movements of the stars, he was able to be critical without seeming to be" (65). The Legend of Good Women is read with the Prologue and individual Legends together, the former being the key to understanding the latter. The Prologue, with its tyrannical Cupid and pacifying Alceste, and the Legends, with their false and treacherous men, lend themselves to being read as having a "resemblance to contemporary situations" (85).

Chapter 4, "Moving Toward Canterbury," is the...