John Gower: Others and the Self

New essays on aspects of Gower's poetry, viewed through the lens of the self and beyond.

New essays on aspects of Gower's poetry, viewed through the lens of the self and beyond.

The topics of "selfhood" and "otherness" lie at the heart of these new assessments of John Gower's poetry. The first part of the book, on knowing the self and others, focuses on cognition, brain functions, imagination, and the internal and external factors that affect one's sense of being, from sensation and inner emotive effects within body parts to cosmic perspectives, morality, and theology as voiced by language and storytelling. The second, on the essence of strangers, explores the interconnections of sensation and aesthetics; it also considers kinds of social dysfunction, whether through racial or gender conflict, or religious and political warfare.The final part of the booklooks at social ethics and ethical poets, reassessing two of Gower's perpetual concerns: honest government and honest craft. It considers Gower as a constitutional thinker, whether in terms of law, judicial corruption, or a society of businessmen who would rewrite ethics in terms of business models. It concludes with an examination of theConfessio in the culture of Portugal and Spain.

Russell Peck is the John Hall Deane Professor of English at the University of Rochester: R. F. Yeager is Professor of English at the University of West Florida.

Contributors: Stephanie L. Batkie, Helen Cooper, Brian W. Gastle, Matthew Giancarlo, Matthew W. Irvin, Yoshiko Kobayashi, Robert J. Meindl, Peter Nicholson, Maura Nolan, Gabrielle Parkin, Russell A. Peck, Ana Sáez-Hidalgo, Larry Scanlon, Karla Taylor, Kim Zarins, R.F. Yeager,

Introduction - Robert F. Yeager and Russell Peck
The Materiality of Cognition in Reading, Staging, and Regulation of Brain and Heart Activities in Gower'sConfessio Amantis - Russell Peck
The Sound of My Voice: Aurality and Credible Faith in theVox Clamantis - Stephanie L. Batkie
"Noght withoute peine": Chastity, Complaint, and Lucrece'sVox Clamantis - Matthew W. Irvin
Reading Faces in Gower and Chaucer - Karla Taylor
Gower and Mortality: The Ends of Storytelling - Helen Cooper
Sensation and the Plain Style in John Gower'sConfessio Amantis - Maura Nolan
Violence without Warning: Sympathetic Villains and Gower's Crafting of Ovidian Narrative - Kim Zarins
Gower, Lydgate, and Incest - Larry Scanlon
Gower's Jews - Robert F. Yeager
Letters of Old Age: The Advocacy of Peace in the Works of John Gower and Philippe de Mézières - Yoshiko Kobayashi
Gower's Governmentality: Revisiting John Gower as a Constitutional Thinker and Regiminal Writer - Matthew Giancarlo
Gower'sSpeculum Iudicis: Judicial Corruption in Book VI of theVox Clamantis - Robert J. Meindl
"The lucre of marchandie": Poet, Patron, and Payment in Gower'sConfessio Amantis - Brian Gastle
Hidden Matter in John Gower'sConfessio Amantis - Gabrielle Parkin
Writing theCinkante Balades - Peter Nicholson
Gower in Early Modern Spanish Libraries: The Missing Link - Ana Saez-Hidalgo
Bibliography