abstract |
Through analysis of more than 140 printed editions of Geoffrey Chaucer's work, this dissertation surveys and discusses the printing history of the Canterbury Tales
in England during the handpress period. Since the days of William Caxton, Chaucer's Canterbury Tales have passed through printing presses with more longevity than any
other English author. This dissertation looks at how Chaucer was presented to English readers in printed form. and explores the ways in which Chaucer and his work is
introduced within the printed text and how he is placed within the reader experience. It provides an overview of major shifts and changes to paratextual material in Chaucer
publications, with particular attention paid to prefatory material, biographical sketches, language, and illustrations.
By assessing these paratextual elements, the dissertation demonstrates how readers engaged with Chaucer long after his death and how editors helped develop an image of
the poet. This approach shifts the focus of textual interpretation out of the author's domain and into a more democratic arena. Through a close study of the printing history
of the Canterbury Tales, this dissertation demonstrates that the creation of this "arena" lay within the hands of the printers, publishers, and editors who presented
Chaucer to readers. Presentation of the Canterbury Tales during the handpress period was squarely in the hands of men and women who massaged and manipulated the text
to match their own vision of the text and its author. This abundance of editorial mediation has had a significant, but historically overlooked, impact on Chaucer and his work.
From the advent of printing in England, Chaucer's work was under the control of those who edited, translated, and dispensed his texts. Print culture allowed for dialogue
between Chaucer's editors and his readers—one that helped establish Geoffrey Chaucer as "the Father of English Poetry" and a representative of English nationalism and
identity. This dissertation explores how the paratextual elements of handpress-period publications defined this representation of Geoffrey Chaucer.
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