The Renart cycle, which originated in France in the last years of the twelfth century in a series of "branches," am o ng them in particular Branch II-Va of Pierre de Saint-Cloud, eventually appeared in England in Chaucer's "Nun's Priest's Tale." Nineteenth-century criticism of the Roman de Renart, emphasizing true-to-life detail, has been rejected by twentieth-century critics who defend especially the satiric elements in the story. There is, however, another dimension to the Renart cycle, that is, the disruptive yet attractive force of the fox, which Chaucer allows to emerge in the "Nun's Priest's Tale," although Chaucer criticism has generally neglected the importance of daun Russell in the tale. He is glorified throughout the "fable section," and his presence is felt indirectly throughout the whole tale. The fox-trickster represents the comic and "accidental" view of life developed by Chaucer in his Canterbury Tales. - [Abstract]

Language: English