ABSTRACT:
Among the philological interpretations of Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde ( TC ) there are recurring, disputed topics, e.g., the author's striking use of proverbs, his characterizations of Criseyde and Troilus, and the tensions between the main body of the poem and its so-called 'epilogue'. Previous approaches, drawing mainly from observations on theories from antiquity and/or the early and high middle ages did not arrive at viable solutions for these aporias. The inadequacy of allegorical or Boethian explanations of TC can be overcome by confronting the literary text with a coeval constituent of late medieval culture, the philosophical movement of thought known as 'nominalism'. Paralleling the central positions of nominalism and the main features of Chaucer's poem reveals the scholary problems mentioned above to be the result of the poet's typically late-medieval reaction to the main conflicts of thought in the fourteenth century.

Chapter 2 transfers recent research in medieval philosophy to literature, thus justyfying the interdisciplinary approach chosen. Late medieval nominalism, the most influential development in the history of thought during Chaucer's lifetime, was a movement not limited to the ivory towers of universities and monastery schools. The propositions offered by this philosophical superstratum present merely the scholary aspect of broader concerns, of a mentality which would determine the history of ideas in the Western world.

As chapter 3 delineates, Chaucerians have so far hesitated to adapt the impact of late medieval nominalism to their investigations. This inquiry is the first to negotiate the 'influence' of Chaucer's nominalist mentality on the language, characterization, and structure of TC . The poet may have been cognizant of nominalist thought, as its ideas were spread via public disputationes at the colleges, sermons, and prayer books. In addition, Ralph Strode, Chaucer's "philosophical/logical" friend, is regarded as a potential source for the nominalist characteristics in the poem dedicated to him.

The aesthetic consequences of a literary nominalism are discussed in chapter 4 which considers Chaucer's conspicuous use of the proverb. The medieval proverb is a rhetorical device demanding universal truth. Epistemologically speaking it is a linguistic petrification of platonic idealism, i.e., medieval 'realism'. In the fourteenth century, those realists' epistemology was challenged by nominalist thought. Nominalists denied that abstract or general terms (universals) represent objective real existents. They admitted reality only to actual objective particulars and therefore held that real knowledge could only be derived from individuals. This corresponds to Chaucer's critical literary revelation of the epistemological ambiuity of the lingustic universal 'proverb'.

Chapter 5 interrogates Chaucer' avoiding and replacing of allegorical forms of expression. Allegory, the widely used form of medieval characterization, depends on an identifiable logical foundation: analogy. By virtue of analogical thought, medieval narratives and their characters were related to the dominating religious and/or social superstructures, thereby reaching respective higher levels of interpretational truth. The psychological realism of Chaucer's protagonists renders allegorical readings of TC impossible. The author is part of the late medieval anti-allegorical phalanx in politics, the natural sciences, theology, and philosophy. Nominalist thinkers denied the value of analogy as means of scientific discussion, thus severely shattering the basis of allegorical thought. Chaucer's fourteenth-century vision required new modes of expression. Here, the parallels to late medieval nominalism are striking: Nominalist thought led to landslide consequences in the field of human ethics. The individual was attributed free will and thus responsibility for his/her actions. We see Chaucer's literay nominalism in his creation of Criseyde, a typical late medieval protagonist, who--despite her significatio in literary tradition--is depicted as a likeable woman motivated by her own free will. This non-allegorical mode of characterization results in the admired, but rarely elucidated psychological realism of the poem. Moreover, establishing ambiguous free will as Criseyde's driving force also explains the vast number of mutually exclusive allegorical readings of her character.

Chapter 6 contains fresh considerations about Wyclif's impact on Chaucer's poetry. The author's characterization of Troilus is demonstrated to be a literary nominalist's reaction against Wyclif's 'realistic' theses which gained some popularity in England when TC was written. Troilus' character is defined by two main features, his exaggerated, courtly idealism and his radical determinism. Both of these philosophical positions correspond to Wyclif's thought. Following the postulates of "bysshop Bradwardine", the reformer devised his own platonic idealism/'realism' in pointed response to the positions of late medieval nominalists. In TC idealism/'realism' prevents Troilus from acting, and determinism provides the character with the necessary arguments to defend his inability. Sometimes, Troilus' attitude is even a literal reechoing of Wyclif's radically deterministic views. The catastrophical outcome of Wyclif's Weltanschauung comes to light as Chaucer critiques the ethically dangerous potential of his contemporary's writings and sermons. Furthermore, the logician Ralph Strode was among the leading academic opponents of some of Wyclif's postulates.

Chapter 7 offers a new explanation for the philological aporia concerning the 'epilogue' of TC . This final portion of the poem is not a deplorable faux pas fo the otherwise genial poet, but an example of a structural strategy typical of late medieval problem solving. The nominalists' intention to stress God's absolute power caused them to emphasize the inadequacy of human rational thought to plumb the mysteries of God's will. This development led to the rise of two strictly separated levels of truth: a religious truth of revelation, which was the only secure thruth and which could be attained by faith alone; or, a contingent, secular truth which could be gained through human rational thinking. Such a separation of truths resulted in a shift from transcendence toward immanence. The secular sphere lost its character as a significans and gained momentum as a worthwhile subject of investigation. This process is mirrored in Chaucer's separation of truth into two spheres in _TC_. There we find an obvious preference for the secular sphere, the earthly love affair between two individuals. This point of view is only ultimately subdued by the author's fideistic leap of faith. Thus, the antinomical strategy of thought propagated by nominalism--also visible in the new techniques of university disputations in Oxford ( persuasio ) and Paris ( aporia )--corresponds to the structural split between the main body of TC and its last few lines.

The conclusion discusses Chaucer's reputation as amazingly modern and psychologically realistic. With the modern(ist) potential of nominalism in mind, it is maintained that the poet's literary nominalism--his critical inquiry into the universal 'proverb', his breaking away from allegorical representation, his creation of a Criseyde entirely motivated by her own free will, his warning against warning against radical 'realism' in the depiction of Troilus, and the antinomical structure of the poem--causes him to be more accessible to the twentieth-century reader than any other English writer of the middle ages.