The Familiar Stranger: The Paradox of Neighborly Love in The Miller's Tale

論喬叟《磨坊匠的故事》中睦鄰的情感悖論

Yu-Ching Wu(吳育慶)

《英美文學評論》 42期 (2023/06) Pp. 31-73

https://doi.org/10.6711/REAL.202306_(42).0002

摘要

Recent studies have emphasized the importance of the neighbor as a critical tool in reconstructing our understanding of medieval social lives and histories. This essay seeks to advance current discussions with a special focus on the topic of neighborly love in Chaucerian texts. It argues that while neighborly love, as it is described in Scripture, remains a crucial catalyst in forging a group identity through the practice of charity, the affect is simultaneously fueled by a high level of distrust and fear as a result of human competition and calculation. This paradoxical feature of neighborly love fluctuating between the familiar and the unfamiliar, between intimacy and hostility, has remained prominent in the medieval public discourse. Using Chaucer's Canterbury Tales as its focus, this essay demonstrates that not only is Chaucer aware of such emotional paradox brought forth by neighborly love, but his commentaries are often provided in a backhanded manner with a muffled sneer. With the Miller's Tale as its centerpiece, this essay argues that Chaucer manipulates the concept of neighbors and neighborly love as the source of social unrest, with which he exposes the fragility of communal bonds.

關鍵字

neighbor theory ； history of emotions ； Chaucer ； community ； proximity ； extimacy

並列摘要

歐美現代哲學與倫理研究領域在過去數十年興起了一波以「鄰居」作為思考導向的批判論述，而論述也在中世紀研究發酵，為過去學界對於中世紀西歐社群的想像做出新的挑戰與詮釋。本文將承接晚近對於鄰居以及睦鄰的討論，檢視喬叟的詩作中如何呈現鄰居與睦鄰的情感表現。本文主張雖然睦鄰為歐洲中世紀西歐提供了維繫社群的重要正向元素，但其情感身後亦蘊藏了大量對於人心不信任及算計所產生的反社會躁動，而這股在熟悉與疏離、親密與敵意中游移的情愫在喬叟的故事中被完全的體現。本文最後將聚焦於《磨坊匠的故事》，探討喬叟假藉諷刺寓言詩的文體，由裡到外操弄鄰人，並將其轉變為異化社群的核心手段。

並列關鍵字

鄰居理論 ； 情感的歷史 ； 喬叟 ； 社群 ； 毗鄰 ； 外密性

參考文獻

Aloni, Gila. “Extimacy in the ‘Miller’s Tale.’” The Chaucer Review, vol. 41, no. 2, 2006, pp. 163-84.

Bale, Anthony. The Jew in the Medieval Book: English Antisemitism, 1350-1500. Cambridge UP, 2006.

Barclay, Katie. Caritas: Neighbourly Love and the Early Modern Self. Oxford UP, 2021.

Benson, C. David. Chaucer’s Drama of Style: Poetic Variety and Contrast in the Canterbury Tales. U of North Carolina P, 1983.

Blurton, Heather and Hannah Johnson. “Jews as Others and Neighbors: Encountering Chaucer’s Prioress in the Classroom.” Jews in Medieval England, edited by Miriamne Ara Krummel and Toson Pugh. Palgrave Macmillan, 2017.