Introduction The Problem and the Possibility 1
Chaucer as an Intellectual Man:A Review 3
Possibility of Chaucer as an Intellectual 9
The Layout of the Book 20
Chapter One Counselor or Critic? 24
Court Poet as Prince-pleaser,Counselor,or Critic? 24
Chaucer's Counseling:The Tale of Melibee 32
Between Counsel and Critique:Mirror for Prince 43
Chapter Two Chaucer as a Social Commentator 48
Chaucer's Position:in and on the Society 52
Writing as Social Practice:The Nun's Priest's Tale 62
Women in Chaucer's Society:Criseyde and Wife of Bath 68
Portraying of Clerics:Prioress,Pardoner,and Parson 77
Chapter Three Entertainer,Edifier and Enlightener 87
The Role of Enlightener:Authority Negotiated 88
Literary Authority and Chaucer's Poetic Innovation 102
Masculine Authority vs. Feminine Experience 107
Chapter Four Wisdom and/or Weakness 111
Wisdom in Art:Commenting with Strategies 112
Wisdom in Life:Chaucer and Chinese Shi 136
Weakness or Not? 146
Conclusion Possibility of Transcending 150
Selected Bibliography 154
Primary Sources 154
Secondary Sources 155