Research Catalog

Chaucer's gifts : exchange and value in the Canterbury tales

Title
Chaucer's gifts : exchange and value in the Canterbury tales / Robert W. Epstein.
Author
Epstein, Robert W. (Robert William), 1964-
Publication
  • Cardiff : University Of Wales Press, [2018]
  • ©2018

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StatusFormatAccessCall NumberItem Location
TextUse in library JFD 18-1666Schwarzman Building - Main Reading Room 315

Details

Description
xi, 249 pages; 22 cm
Summary
Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, the most celebrated literary work of medieval England, portrays the culture of the late Middle Ages as a deeply commercial environment, replete with commodities and dominated by market relationships. However, the market is not the only mode of exchange in Chaucer's world or in his poem. Chaucer's Gifts reveals the gift economy at work in the tales. Applying important recent advances in anthropological gift theory, it illuminates and explains this network of exchanges and obligations. Chaucer's Gifts argues that the world of the Canterbury Tales harbours deep commitments to reciprocity and obligation which are at odds with a purely commercial culture, and demonstrates how the market and commercial relations are not natural, eternal, or inevitable - an essential lesson if we are to understand Chaucer's world or our own.
Series Statement
New century Chaucer
Uniform Title
New century Chaucer.
Subjects
Genre/Form
Criticism, interpretation, etc.
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographical references (pages 239-242) and index.
Call Number
JFD 18-1666
ISBN
  • 9781786831682
  • 1786831686
  • 1786831694
  • 9781786831699
OCLC
1010615591
Author
Epstein, Robert W. (Robert William), 1964- author.
Title
Chaucer's gifts : exchange and value in the Canterbury tales / Robert W. Epstein.
Publisher
Cardiff : University Of Wales Press, [2018]
Copyright Date
©2018
Type of Content
text
Type of Medium
unmediated
Type of Carrier
volume
Series
New century Chaucer
New century Chaucer.
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 239-242) and index.
Research Call Number
JFD 18-1666
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