Eminent Chaucerians? Early Women Scholars and the History of Reading Chaucer

Richard Utz, Western Michigan University
Peter Schneck, Universität Osnabrück

Abstract

Most existing histories of Chaucer studies display a narrow focus on what might be considered foundational nineteenth- and early twentieth-century scholarship, i.e., philological editing, literary history, and published work in general. Such narrow definitions tend to exclude the various other possible forms of the reception of Chaucer's texts, especially those traditionally open to women: teaching, illustration, children's literature, and the various other tasks often meant to assist male Chaucerians with their publication projects. This special edition of Philologie im Netz, based on contributions originally made to a panel at the 2002 Conference of the New Chaucer Society at the University of Glasgow, intends to challenge existing notions of what constitutes "eminent scholarship" and to thicken the history of medieval studies through a fresh and international look at the roles of women in the history of reading Chaucer.