Petrarch and Chaucer on Fame

本文大致分成三部分：第一部分主要檢視喬叟之前一些代表性作家如何看待因為文學創作而獲致的名聲。第二部分則爬梳佩特拉克不同的作品探討他對追求不朽名聲的看法。身為人文主義早期的鼓吹者之一，佩特拉克在不同作品中明確表達想要以文學成就獲致不朽名聲的渴望。第三部分主要探究喬叟《聲譽之宮》中對名聲的看法。類似於佩特拉克，喬叟對世俗名聲的短暫、不確定甚至荒謬有深刻的體認及生動的描繪。但即使如此，本文將指出雖然喬叟並未像佩特拉克一樣明確表達以文學創作達到不朽的渴望，然而他對於追求文學史上一席之地的期待仍在字裡行間流露出來。

關鍵字

喬叟；名聲；佩特拉克

並列摘要

The aim of this paper is to make productive connections between Petrarch and Chaucer by exploring their conceptions of fame, particularly literary fame. The first part is a broad overview of the idea of literary fame before Chaucer’s time, focusing in particular on such writers as Homer, Hesiod, Virgil, Statius, and Dante to sketch out their different perspectives on literary immortality. The next part examines various works by Petrarch that are reflective of his attitude toward fame. As the Church held sway in his time, Petrarch was acutely aware of the emptiness of worldly fame and carried out a profound dissection of its vanity, yet he could not entirely suppress his longing for literary fame and avowed this yearning throughout his works. Chaucer’s case is trickier, mainly owing to his characteristic noncommittal attitude. Through an analysis of the House of Fame, the third part of the paper advances the argument that though Chaucer, like Petrarch, was intimately familiar with the fickleness and absurdity of worldly fame, he betrays a longing for a posthumous literary fame.