Literarischer Nominalismus im Spätmittelalter: Eine Untersuchung zu Sprache, Charakterzeichnung und Struktur in Geoffrey Chaucers Troilus and Criseyde by Richard J. Utz

Abstract

STUDIES IN THE AGE OF CHAUCER recognition ofthe contribution ofShinsuke Ando and his colleagues to the appreciation of English literature. JOHN H. FISHER Knoxville, Tennessee RICHARD J. UTZ. Literarischer Nominalism us im Spatmittelalter: Eine Untersuchung zu Sprache, Charakterzeichnung undStrukturin Geof frey Chaucers Troilus and Criseyde. Sprache und Literatur: Re­ gensburger Arbeiten zur Anglistikund Amerikanistik, no. 31. Frank­ furt am Main: Peter Lang, 1990. Pp. 265. DM 82 ($63.80). The need for a study of the impact of nominalism on Chaucer's works is apparent. As Richard Utz points out in this study of Tim/us and Criseyde, until quite recently neither nominalism nor Ockhamism was indexed in any ofthe standardbibliographies ofChaucer studies: "It was only with the appearance of The Essential Chaucer, a bibliography edited in 1987, with eight entries on the subject, and the Bibliography of Chaucer: 1974-85, edited in 1988, with five entries, that a noticeable change and an accep­ tance of the area of research could be noted" (p. 41; my translation, as throughout thisreview). A major reason for this critical neglect is the lack of any specific textual passages that point directlytoward nominalist sources. "Chaucer's literary Nominalism, thus, has to manifest itselfthrough other means" (p. 61), and Utz must build a case for the existence of nominalist influence on an assortment of indirect evidence. The methodological necessity of drawing conclusions based on indirect evidence of Chaucer's either conscious or passive adherence to nominalist thought is stated in chapter 1. Summaries of the history of nominalism during theMiddle Ages and the critical comment on Chaucer's reception of nominalist ideas are given in chapters 2 and 3, respectively; these chapters are very general, serving primarily as introductions to the basic issues for nonspecialists. The argument in Utz's study actually begins in chapter 4, "Das Sprich­ wort in Chaucers 'Troilus and Criseyde': Zur Problematisierung eines idealistisch-universalen Denk-und Sprachkonzepts." The author main­ tains that the "medieval extension of the Platonic idealism of Antiquity is Realism" (p. 80). The serious use or acceptance of Sprichworter, or 284 REVIEWS proverbs, by characters in Trot/us signals a reliance upon universals, which characterizes the mentality of the Neoplatonic realists. First, there is Pan­ darus, who uses a "lion's share" of proverbs in the first three books of the romance, as he brings together the eponymous lovers under relatively generalized circumstances, but who becomes "speechless" when con­ fronted with the specific misfortunes presented in the final two books. Then there is Troilus: [He] at first betrays a na"ive belief in the authority of proverbs and then must painfully feelhow, with thechangeofsituationcaused bythesurrender of Criseyde, many of themetaphors, images, and other linguistic devices prove to have multiple meanings and can even act against him. (P. 100) Chaucer's use of proverbs indicates a rejection of an earlier medieval mentality in favor of later nominalist attitudes. In chapter 5, the use of allegory, or an extended metaphor understood with reference to an abstract system of ideas, is shown to be compatible with the principles of medieval literary realism. According to Utz, the characterization of Criseyde indicates Chaucer's rejection of allegory or typology in favor of more ambiguous, individualizing methods; Chaucer's avoidance of allegory reflects, therefore, yet another aspect of his literary nominalism. Chapter 6 studies the "courtly idealism and radical determinism" that characterize Troilus. The characterization of Troilus is seen to be Chaucer's response to or criticism of the neorealist ideas propounded byJohn Wyclif, who was, ofcourse, a contemporary ofthe poet and whose opinions would have been familiar to him. Chapter 7, "Trennung der Wahrheiten," argues that the often negatively criticized palinode of Trot/us and Criseyde is consistent with a nominalist reading of the work. The nominalist rejection of universals was not a rejection of faith in the unseen verities of the Christian religion. In a nominalist reading, the Epilogue becomes, rather than a statement of the contemptus munditheme, a "sort of'leap of faith' " (p. 211) by the narrator from the realm of specifics (irdisch-empirische Wahrheit) into the realm of religiouscategories (Glaubenswahrheiten), makingcomplete on two levels the love story that Chaucer is presenting. Chapter 8, the conclusion, explains that one...