Linguam Ad Loquendum: Writing a Vernacular Identity in Medieval and Early Modern England.
- Author/Editor
- Wagner, Erin Kathleen.
- Title
- Linguam Ad Loquendum: Writing a Vernacular Identity in Medieval and Early Modern England.
- Published
- Wagner, Erin Kathleen. Linguam Ad Loquendum: Writing a Vernacular Identity in Medieval and Early Modern England. Ph.D. Dissertation. Ohio State University, 2015. vii, 315 pp. Dissertation Abstracts International A81.12(E). Fully accessible via ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global..
- Review
- Wagner's dissertation explores the topic of English vernacular linguistic identity, particularly anxieties about using English in literary and theological texts, arguing that "even texts traditionally considered to be confident in their use of English, like 'The Canterbury Tales,' are preoccupied with the subject of unrestricted speech and the nature of the English language" (ii). Wagner considers attitudes toward the use of English in Lollard and Wycliffite discourses and reactions to them, tracing their topical concerns in works by Chaucer, Gower, Hoccleve, Pecock, Capgrave, and other medieval writers, with discussion of post-print reformed attitudes of Foxe, Tyndale, and More. She compares Chaucer's and Gower's views by comparing their tales of suppressed speech, the Manciple's Tale and the Tale of Phebus and Cornide, arguing that Gower's tale is essentially conservative, i.e., "largely concerned with maintaining the status quo and thus silencing revolutionaries, while Chaucer is much more concerned with the freedom to speak" (13). [MA]
- Date
- 2015
- Gower Subjects
- Confessio Amantis
Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations