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Chaucer and the Literary Tradition of Fame

Kathleen Stroing Dixon

出版	U. of Calif., Davis, 1987
URL	http://books.google.com.hk/books?id=EnqrLU9krawC&hl=&source=gbs_api

註釋

As part of the architectural support for Lady Fame's palace in Chaucer's Hous of Fame various auctors stand like telamons upon pillars in the great hall and bear upon their shoulders the weighty fame of their subject matter. Critics have disputed the import of the auctors' presence on those pillars within Fame's palace: are they there only to support the fame of others or are they there also because they themselves are famous? Or, to paraphrase C.S. Lewis, in the last resort what matters more--the fame a poet has given or the fame a poet has won? Ultimately this dispute offers yet another version of the medieval or renaissance question: does Chaucer remain loyal to the medieval conception of the poet, that often anonymous writer whose prime concern is the renown of his subject matter and his obligation to hand on this matter in a worthy manner; or does Chaucer stray to the renaissance conception that glories more in the poet's individual achievement and the personal renown a poet can attain? To settle this dispute one must determine Chaucer's attitude towards fame and poetry, both in respect to the fame a poet gives to his subject matter and the fame a poet earns for himself. For background I present some of the philosophic views of fame, chronicle personifications of fame, and survey the literary tradition linking fame and poetry in classical literature and in the fourteenth-century Italian revival of this tradition. I then analyze Chaucer's poetry for his response to the tradition in those contexts where one might customarily expect a poet to mention fame. Finally I return to the Hous of Fame itself and reconsider the import of the auctors upon their pillars before looking at Chaucer's historical fame. A lengthy consideration of fame seems naturally to lead ultimately to a consideration of values; for the study of Chaucer and fame one key question that evolves is What matters more to Chaucer--his becoming famous or his achieving artistically in the manner that he desires? It is a question of priorities relevant to Chaucer's attitudes toward his poetry and art.