Department of English

In this seminar we shall at first read Chaucer's Parliament of Fowls and his Legend of Good Women, so as to ascertain, if that is possible, what the author is trying to do as regards sexual difference, and then we shall read some tales of his Canterbury Tales with that light in mind, as well as some chosen passages of his Troilus and Criseyde. He affirms strongly that this very difference frames the relations between men and women, only to describe characters who do not fit into the cliches he himself uses ( the Wife of Bath is an exception in this respect). We shall also keep in mind that not only heterosexual situations are portrayed but homosexual ones are developed also,albeit in a significantly smaller reccurrence.