Inhoudsopgave:
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\u003cP\u003eGeoffrey Chaucerâs \u003cI\u003eCanterbury Tales\u003c/I\u003e, the most celebrated literary work of medieval England, portrays the culture of the late Middle Ages as a deeply commercial environment, replete with commodities and dominated by market relationships. However, the market is not the only mode of exchange in Chaucerâs world or in his poem. \u003cI\u003eChaucerâs Gifts\u003c/I\u003e reveals the gift economy at work in the tales. Applying important recent advances in anthropological gift theory, it illuminates and explains this network of exchanges and obligations. \u003cI\u003eChaucerâs Gifts\u003c/I\u003e argues that the world of the \u003cI\u003eCanterbury Tales\u003c/I\u003e harbours deep commitments to reciprocity and obligation which are at odds with a purely commercial culture, and demonstrates how the market and commercial relations are not natural, eternal, or inevitable â an essential lesson if we are to understand Chaucerâs world or our own.\u003c/P\u003e |
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