"Nede hath no law": The State of Exception in Gower and Langland.
- Author/Editor
- van Dijk, Conrad J.
- Title
- "Nede hath no law": The State of Exception in Gower and Langland.
- Published
- van Dijk, Conrad J. "Nede hath no law": The State of Exception in Gower and Langland. Accessus: A Journal of Premodern Literature and New Media 2.2 (2015): n.p.
- Review
- Conrad van Dijk frames his essay with two postmodern theorists, Giorgio Agamben and Jacques Derrida, and their arguments for the relationship between law and the exception to the law. From this context, he then discusses how two Middle English poets, William Langland and John Gower, present and understand the exception to the law in their poetry. van Dijk goes on to examine how these poets present a premodern understanding of the law and its exception, especially how the exception exists in relation to politics, philosophy, and faith (3). van Dijk explains the benefit of a postmodern reading of these authors: "Indeed, a postmodern reading of Langland clarifies how 'Piers Plowman' fails to resolve the tension between law and nature. It also reveals that John Gower is much more eager to provide a solution" (3-4). He adds, "Gower's work ["Confessio Amantis"] makes an ideal testing ground for how we might reconcile our own theoretical interest in the notion of necessity with an appreciation of historical alterity" (4). In "Piers Plowman," van Dijk concerns himself with the refrain throughout the poem: "redde quod debes." Need is a matter of nature (kynde) rather than law, he concludes (12). For Gower, van Dijk asserts that "the exception in terms of law determines much of his poetic output," but the need that Gower addresses is not economic--it is sexual (18). The basic human need for Gower is Cupid's law--love (23). van Dijk argues, "Gower's solution, then, is to make need the defining feature of love (the exception becomes the rule), and so it is only natural that when need subsides, so does love" (31). After returning to Derrida and Agamben, van Dijk concludes that our "postmodern awareness" of the exception in relation to the law might actually help us better understand "the alterity (the exceptionality) of medieval texts" (40). [JGS. Copyright. The John Gower Society. eJGN 39.1]
- Date
- 2015
- Gower Subjects
- Confessio Amantis