Chaucer's "The House of Fame": the Cultural Nature of Fame
Chaucer's "The House of Fame": The Cultural Nature of Fame
QUESTION 7.
DISCUSS THE CULTURAL NATURE OF FAME AND ITS TEXTUAL EXPRESSION WITH REFERENCE TO
ONE OR MORE OF THE FOLLOWING: ORAL HEROIC POETRY, CHAUCER'S DEPICTION IN THE
HOUSE OF FAME AND THE MODERN CONSTRUCTION OF THE CANON OF ENGLISH LITERATURE.
YOU SHOULD FOCUS YOUR ANALYSIS ON THE INTERPLAY OF ORAL AND LITERARY TRADITIONS
IN THESE CONTEXTS.
Many critics have noted the complexities within Chaucer's The House of Fame, in particular, the complexities between the oral and the literary. The differences between these methods are constantly appearing; Chaucer is well aware of rapidly changing communicative practises and contrasts the preservation of utterance with the longevity of literary texts. He achieves this by discussing the nature of "Fame" and the difficulties that arise from it. "Fame" can both destroy and create. It can result in the eternal preservation of great works and their creators. However, Chaucer is quick to note the precarious nature of "fame" noting the unreliable process of attaining it and its potentially momentary existence. Every creator with their respective work/s naturally crave and desire "fame"; they want their subjects to remain fresh in the minds of their audience. Chaucer, while neither totally praising the written nor the oral, reveals how essentially the written word is far more likely to become eternal as opposed to the oral. The relative "fame" of any work is dependent on many factors. Many traditional and classical ideas result in the formation of the English canon, yet as Chaucer indicates, the "fame" of these works can easily become annihilated. The arrival of new readers with different ideals and thereby changing tradition, can reject classical or "canonical" work and their "fame" will melt into nothingness. Most stories, histories and legends that emerge from oral heroic poetry are to herald the achievement of the powerful and wealthy so that their
QUESTION 7.
DISCUSS THE CULTURAL NATURE OF FAME AND ITS TEXTUAL EXPRESSION WITH REFERENCE TO
ONE OR MORE OF THE FOLLOWING: ORAL HEROIC POETRY, CHAUCER'S DEPICTION IN THE
HOUSE OF FAME AND THE MODERN CONSTRUCTION OF THE CANON OF ENGLISH LITERATURE.
YOU SHOULD FOCUS YOUR ANALYSIS ON THE INTERPLAY OF ORAL AND LITERARY TRADITIONS
IN THESE CONTEXTS.
Many critics have noted the complexities within Chaucer's The House of Fame, in particular, the complexities between the oral and the literary. The differences between these methods are constantly appearing; Chaucer is well aware of rapidly changing communicative practises and contrasts the preservation of utterance with the longevity of literary texts. He achieves this by discussing the nature of "Fame" and the difficulties that arise from it. "Fame" can both destroy and create. It can result in the eternal preservation of great works and their creators. However, Chaucer is quick to note the precarious nature of "fame" noting the unreliable process of attaining it and its potentially momentary existence. Every creator with their respective work/s naturally crave and desire "fame"; they want their subjects to remain fresh in the minds of their audience. Chaucer, while neither totally praising the written nor the oral, reveals how essentially the written word is far more likely to become eternal as opposed to the oral. The relative "fame" of any work is dependent on many factors. Many traditional and classical ideas result in the formation of the English canon, yet as Chaucer indicates, the "fame" of these works can easily become annihilated. The arrival of new readers with different ideals and thereby changing tradition, can reject classical or "canonical" work and their "fame" will melt into nothingness. Most stories, histories and legends that emerge from oral heroic poetry are to herald the achievement of the powerful and wealthy so that their