Gender and Language in Chaucer by Catherine S. Cox (review)

Abstract

94ARTHURIANA she has identified earlier, rather she is concerned to investigate the lexicon ofseveral unattributed texts to establish their probability of having been written by Andrea. While establishing a canon based on an author's usage is a valuable and traditional occupation, it does not quite fulfill the promises implied in the title. Once it is clear what the author actually means, however, her study of the 'language of chivalry' in the works ofAndrea da Barberino is an impressive and careful study of the author's works. Her use ofthe Guerrino as a test ofauthenticity is a bit problematic, however, since she acknowledges that authorities do not universally attribute this work to Andrea. Through her examinarion of the undisputed works attribured to Andrea, the six books of / Reali di Francia, the Aspramente, the Storie Nerbonese, La Storia de Aiolfo del Barbicene, La Storia de Ugone d'Avernia, and Guerrino il Meschino, she argues that Andrea should also be credited with La Prima Spagna, La Seconda Spagna (also known as the Ansuigi), and Le Storie de Rinaldo da Monte Albano; to even the balance, she concludes with arguments that he did not write // Libro di Rambaldo (predictably, perhaps, because the quality is inferior). Her arguments seem persuasive. La Prima and Seconda Spagna fill in the missing bits in the Charlemagne cycle begun in the Reali de Francia and picked up in the Storie Nerbonese. Her careful examination ofthe language of the texts is minute and includes an examination of figures as well. A particularly charming example is her use ofelephant similes to draw a relationship between the Guerrino and the Rinaldo. Allaire provides a scrupulous examination ofthe language ofthe texts that may be attributed to Andrea da Barberino. Her book is not easy reading (and does not discuss the larger issues of ethos and language that she raises in her first chapter and title), but is a valuable prolegomena to a critical edition of Andrea's works, especially of those unedited works she now claims for him. This consequent giant step seems to be the project Allaire has in mind and the current book reads like the introduction to a pending edition. Considering the scope ofsuch a project, it would be unrealistic to suggest she also embark on a translation ofAndrea into English. Now that she has established his corpus and demonstrated his importance to an English-speaking audience, she might now want to make him accessible. Ifshe herselfdoes not wish to take on this Herculean task, she has done the groundwork for a succeeding generation of scholars and Ph.D. candidates. DON HOFFMAN Northeastern Illinois University Catherine s. cox. Gender andLanguage in Chaucer. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1997. Pp. 240. isbn: 0-8130-1519-7. $49.95. I recently listened to a colleague give a paper on Robert Frost at a departmental colloquium and was astonished at her intimate psychologizing of his intentions. It was a well-done ptesentation, certainly eloquent and well-reasoned—if one could accept her premises that, unfortunately, remained underexamined and unproblematized throughout her talk. I was amused that I, the lone medievalist among a host of REVIEWS95 Americanists, had the strongest reaction against the idea of author function and autonomy on display over the cheese and crackers. Like many medievalists traditionally trained but committed to contemporary litetary theory, I am perhaps more sensitive, if not actually neurotic, about how theory is or is not deployed by my peers. The afternoon demonstrated for me once again that all critical theories are equal, but some are more equal than others. First, poststructuralist theories have made it impossible to write about texts without writing about method and the problems of method; second, the recent turn to history (as we like to describe it) has made it impossible to write about texts without taking into consideration the history of criticism itself. Such developments have dictated a short shelf-life for certain kinds of approaches to texts. These are the thoughts that came to mind as I read GenderandLanguage in Chaucer, for Catherine Cox's readings of the Chaucerian oeuvre, finely calibrated as they are, represent a strain ofpoststructuralist French feminism which, while it may no longer require explanation...