Chaucer's gifts : exchange and value in the Canterbury tales / Robert Epstein.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Epstein, Robert W. (Robert William), 1964- author.

Series:

New Century Chaucer.

New Century Chaucer

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Commerce in literature.

Chaucer, Geoffrey, -1400--Criticism and interpretation.

Chaucer, Geoffrey.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (169 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cardiff : University of Wales Press, [2018]

Summary:

Chaucer's Gifts applies the theoretical approaches of economic anthropology to the Canterbury Tales, to show that in Chaucer's world the exchange of gifts is as prevalent as the purchase of commodities, and that social relations are as important as money and the market.

Contents:

Intro

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction: Chaucer's Commodities, Chaucer's Gifts

1. The Franklin's Potlatch and the Plowman's Creed: The Gift in the General Prologue

2. The Lack of Interest in the Shipman's Tale: Chaucer and the Social Theory of the Gift

3. Giving Evil: Excess and Equivalence in the Fabliau

4. The Exchange of Women and the Gender of the Gift

5. Sacred Commerce: Clerics, Money and the Economy of Salvation

6. 'Fy on a thousand pound!': Debt and the Possibility of Generosity in the Franklin's Tale

Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography.

Notes:

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (EBook Central, viewed June 14, 2023).

ISBN:

1-78683-171-6