Medieval Go-betweens and Chaucer’s Pandarus

Product Description This book explores the rich, complex, literary tradition of the medieval go-between. Idealized going between usually leads to marriage and it develops a new dimension of the much debated question of courtly love and woman's part in it. Chaucer's Pandarus's place in this go-between tradition is a tour de force. Review "Mieszkowski has written a glorious book...one that illuminates a fascinating literary tradition." - Studies in the Age of Chaucer"This book makes available, in all their pulsating variety, the tales of mediated sexual encounters that form part of the medieval literary legacy. The two histories it keeps separate - of fictional debasements and idealizations of desire - come together at the end in an analytical survey of modern responses to Troilus and Criseide. This will be required reading for all who teach the poem. But Chaucerians and non-Chaucerians alike will benefit from Professor Mieszkowski s magisterial study." - Marie Borroff, Sterling Professor of English Emeritus, Yale University About the Author Gretchen Mieszkowski is Professor of Literature and Women's Studies at the University of Houston-Clear Lake. She is the author of a monograph, "The Reputation of Criseyde:1155-1500," and several articles, primarily on medieval literature and gender issues. She has been a Fellow of the American Council of Learned Societies and the Mary Ingraham Bunting Institute of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Mieszkowski has taught at the University of Chicago, Yale University, and Queen's University, Canada. Her Ph.D., in English, is from Yale University.