Medieval Go-beteens and Chaucer's Pandarus [Hardcover]

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.Introduction Worldly Going Between Idealized Going Between Chaucer's Pandurus and the Go-Between Tradition Conclusion

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

GRETCHEN MIESZKOWSKI is Professor of Literature at the University of Houston, Clear Lake, USA.