Papers by Lawrence Besserman
Description of MS Harley 2252 and first-time publication of its shorter poems.
Survey of modern English merisms, the lexical pattern of polar opposites forming an idiom of incl... more Survey of modern English merisms, the lexical pattern of polar opposites forming an idiom of inclusion, e.g., "[from] x . . . [to] y": 'day and night', 'tall and short,' etc.
On the use of polar expressions such as "day and night," "old and young," etc. in Middle English ... more On the use of polar expressions such as "day and night," "old and young," etc. in Middle English poetry --the rhetorical device known as <merismus> in biblical and classical scholarship.
Explores Chaucer's serious and light-hearted uses of the Bible in the <Merchant's Tale>
Book <The Legend of Job in the Middle Ages> (1979)
Speculum, 1980
Chaucer's overlooked obliquely jocular allusions to the Great Schism in the <General Prologue> an... more Chaucer's overlooked obliquely jocular allusions to the Great Schism in the <General Prologue> and in <Troilus and Criseyde> reveal another facet of his passionate engagement with the religious culture of his day.
Chaucer's Pardoner in the context of 14th c. religious developments--Wyclif, etc.
Chaucer's participation in the debate about literal versus figurative biblical interpretation is ... more Chaucer's participation in the debate about literal versus figurative biblical interpretation is seen in several of the Canterebury Tales, most notably the Wife of Bath's Prologue and the Merchant's Tale.
Who wears them, who doesn't, and why.
On the variety of subtle and learned ways that Chaucer uses the Bible in the <Pardoner's Tale> to... more On the variety of subtle and learned ways that Chaucer uses the Bible in the <Pardoner's Tale> to achieve engaging literary effects.
Israeli Palestinian relations, integration, Zionism
Ovid and Lamentations behind a famous passage in T&C
Johns Hopkins University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend acces... more Johns Hopkins University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to New Literary History. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].
Critical review of Mozeson, <The Word>, on the allegedly unacknowledged influence of Hebrew on En... more Critical review of Mozeson, <The Word>, on the allegedly unacknowledged influence of Hebrew on English.
Chaucer's engagement with biblical exegesis and typology viewed in the contemporary context of in... more Chaucer's engagement with biblical exegesis and typology viewed in the contemporary context of innovation and reaction in the field of biblical interpretation; focus on the latter issues exemplified in the <Clerk's Tale>.
Diction and social status relations in Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde.
The Chaucer Review, 2001
... elements of a society's material 'base' (its modes of "material productio... more ... elements of a society's material 'base' (its modes of "material production" and "material ... of abrupt breaks, of breakings-in on eternity; alternatively, the brief space of human ... in Chaucer," in Derek Brewer, ed., Writers and their Background: Geoffrey Chaucer (London, 1974; Athens ...
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Papers by Lawrence Besserman