Chaucer and the Disconsolations of Philosophy: Boethius, Agency, and Literary Form in Late Medieval Literature by Jack Harding Bell Department of English Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ David Aers, Supervisor ___________________________ Sarah Beckwith ___________________________ Thomas Pfau ___________________________ Nancy Armstrong Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of English in the Graduate School of Duke University 2016 ABSTRACT Chaucer and the Disconsolations of Philosophy: Boethius, Agency, and Literary Form in Late Medieval Literature by Jack Harding Bell Department of English Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ David Aers, Supervisor ___________________________ Sarah Beckwith ___________________________ Thomas Pfau ___________________________ Nancy Armstrong An abstract of a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of English in the Graduate School of Duke University 2016 Copyright by Jack Harding Bell 2016 Abstract This study argues that Chaucer's poetry belongs to a far-reaching conversation about the forms of consolation (philosophical, theological, and poetic) that are available to human persons. Chaucer's entry point to this conversation was Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy , a sixth-century dialogue that tried to show how the Stoic ideals of autonomy and self-possession are not simply normative for human beings but remain within the grasp of every individual. Drawing on biblical commentary, consolation literature, and political theory, this study contends that Chaucer's interrogation of the moral and intellectual ideals of the Consolation took the form of philosophical disconsolations: scenes of profound poetic rupture in which a character, sometimes even Chaucer himself, turns to philosophy for solace and yet fails to be consoled. Indeed, philosophy itself becomes a source of despair. In staging these disconsolations, I contend that Chaucer asks his readers to consider the moral dimensions of the aspirations internal to ancient philosophy and the assumptions about the self that must be true if its insights are to console and instruct. For Chaucer, the self must be seen as a gift that flowers through reciprocity (both human and divine) and not as an object to be disciplined and regulated. Chapter one focuses on the Consolation of Philosophy . I argue that recent attempts to characterize Chaucer's relationship to this text as skeptical fail to engage the Consolation on its own terms. The allegory of Lady Philosophy's revelation to a disconsolate Boethius enables philosophy to become both an agent and an object of inquiry. I argue that Boethius's initial skepticism about the pretentions of philosophy is in iv part what Philosophy's therapies are meant to respond to. The pressures that Chaucer's poetry exerts on the ideals of autonomy and self-possession sharpen one of the major absences of the Consolation : viz., the unanswered question of whether Philosophy's therapies have actually consoled Boethius. Chapter two considers one of the Consolation 's fascinating and paradoxical afterlives: Robert Holcot's Postilla super librum sapientiae (1340-43). I argue that Holcot's Stoic conception of wisdom, a conception he explicitly links with Boethius's Consolation , relies on a model of agency that is strikingly similar to the powers of self-knowledge that Philosophy argues Boethius to posses. Chapter three examines Chaucer's fullest exploration of the Boethian model of selfhood and his ultimate rejection of it in Troilus and Criseyde . The poem, which Chaucer called his "tragedy," belonged to a genre of classical writing he knew of only from Philosophy's brief mention of it in the Consolation . Chaucer appropriates the genre to explore and recover mourning as a meaningful act. In Chapter four, I turn to Dante and the House of Fame to consider Chaucer's self-reflections about his ambitions as a poet and the demands of truth-telling. v Acknowledgements I would not have been able to complete this project without the love, support, and generosity of many people. My deep thanks go to my teachers, David and Sarah, whose bracing criticism and constant encouragement have held me to intellectual standards I did not think myself capable of. Their willingness to engage even my most bizarre flights of intellectual fancy is a testament to their faithfulness, patience, and commitment. They have shown me that a life of teaching and writing about the literature we love is an apprenticeship in intellectual virtue. I am grateful for their having taken a chance on me. My warm thanks go to my colleague, Will Revere, without whom I would still be stuck on chapter one. It is rare to name your colleague one of your best friends; rarer still to have them witness the birth of your first child. It has been a privilege to work alongside you as we learn to name the goods internal to the strange yet wonderful vocation we have chosen. I would also like to thank my other colleagues in the English Department, whose kindness and wit I have benefitted from enormously: Chris Catanese, Thomas Manganaro, Jonathan Howard, Mary Caton Lingold, Pete Moore, Allison Curseen, Rebecca Evans, and Patrick Alexander. Special thanks go to Erin Walsh (Religion) and John Slotemaker (Religion, Fairfield U.). They do not simply indulge but enthusiastically share my interest in medieval biblical commentary. John has been a wise teacher and a wiser friend. I will sorely miss Erin's Latin reading groups, a mainstay of my time at Duke. vi This project has born witness a tumultuous and beautiful time of my life: the death of my grandparents, the birth of two children, three moves, prison ministry, caretaking a farm, figuring out how to be the spouse of a pastor of a church. Through it all my greatest pleasure has been learning how to be a better husband and a better father. I dedicate this project to my wife, Goodie, whose love has sustained my work at times when I did not think its completion possible. vii Contents Abstract.................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgements...................................................................................................vi Introduction................................................................................................................1 Chapter 1: The Consolation of Philosophy : Narrative, Autonomy, ........................24 Self-Knowledge Chapter 2: Robert Holcot, O.P., and the Invention of a Stoic Christianity..............65 Chapter 3: The Disconsolations of Philosophy: Tragedy.......................................128 and the Passions in Troilus and Criseyde Chapter 4: The Afterlife of Words: Dante and Chaucer on Fame..........................162 and Philosophy Bibliography...........................................................................................................200 Biography...............................................................................................................214 viii Introduction This wiked custom is so longe yronne, Til that of Athenes kyng Egeus Mot senden his owene sone, Theseus, Sith that the lot is fallen hym upon, To ben devoured, for grace is there non. Chaucer, Legend of Good Women , 1944-47 At the conclusion of the first of The Canterbury Tales , The Knight's Tale , a character named Theseus offers a speech in defense of the "Firste Moevere" of the cosmos (2987). According to Theseus, this Prime Mover, "Juppiter" (3035), established a fair chain of love that governs the nature and movement of every material element of the universe: fire, air, water, and earth. The cause of Jupiter's creation of this chain was this god's "wis purveiaunce" [ foresight ] (3011). His chain is an interlocking series of cosmic bonds, bonds that establish order and regularity from the eternal, perfect, incorruptible heavens all the way down to the corruptible, sublunary realm of contingency. The chain is the law of all living things, and it allows every corner of nature's realm to participate in and reflect the rationality of the "Moevere" himself (3003-5). Indeed, the growth, perfection, and decay of contingent beings expresses the intrinsic rationality and goodness of the Mover and his chain: "loo the ook, that hath so long a norisshynge/ From tyme that it first bigynneth to sprynge,/ And hath so long a life...Yet at the laste wasted is the tree" (3017-8, 3020). Like the oak, human beings must die, too, but it is a mistake to see death as an aberration from the Mover's law. By means of his chain of love the "prince and cause of alle thyng" converts all "unto his propre welle," and finite human 1 beings are no exception (3036-7). To complain against death and misfortune, however untimely and painful they may be, constitutes a failure to appropriate the divine rationality that pervades all things. The failure to let the "purveiaunce" of the Prime Mover permeate every aspect of one's existence is a human failure, a failure to live a fully human life. Theseus offers this speech to his "parlement" in commemoration of the death of Arcite, a Theban knight who had died several years before the speech's delivery (2967). The circumstances surrounding Palamon's death comprise the substance of the poem's narrative: Theseus had captured