Chaucer and Trauma

Trauma is an inescapable condition of Chaucers works. From the ravaging of Troy and the abandonment of Dido to the devastating aftereffects of sexual assault, Chaucer portrayed the most unsettling, searing aspects of human experience. While the term trauma was not part of Chaucers vocabulary, the author was assuredly aware of its causes and consequences, its victims and symptoms. This timely volume explores depictions of violence, victimhood, and overwhelming grief or loss in Chaucers most ambitious texts, Troilus and Criseyde and the Canterbury Tales. The authors examine layers of deep emotional suffering in Chaucers works, as well as those forces that perpetrate injustices against human beings. The essays scrutinize Chaucers narratives through close textual analysis and modern theoretical approaches, offering original perspectives and treating subjects relevant to contemporary concernsrape, domestic violence, slavery, forced consent, family separation, natural catastrophe, pandemic, and more. Written by leading voices in the field, Chaucer and Trauma is designed to introduce readers of Chaucer to a topic of intense present interest. Along with the volume editors, the contributors include Sarah Baechle, David K. Coley, Suzanne M. Edwards, Carissa M. Harris, Matthew W. Irvin, Kate Koppelman, Samuel F. McMillan, and Lynn Staley.