Geoffrey Chaucer’s, The Canterbury Tales, is a collection of multiple stories told by different pilgrims journeying to the shrine of Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral. This Middle English work is told in a way that shows the diversity of individuals in the different narratives Chaucer presents us. In the Postmodern sense, the audience can identify the fragmentation, poioumena an, showing the overall complexity of the individuals in society, in a singular story!
Even though this story is from the end of the 14th century, the fragmentation is seen with the overall structure of the story. Like, the individual tales, whether that be “The Knight’s Tale” or “The Nun’s Tale.” Chaucer structured his work like this to show the diverse array of characters from different social classes and backgrounds. So using the different narrative frames and utilizing the multiple narratives, it shows the postmodern element of fragmentation.
In E. E. CUMMINGS, "[i carry your heart with me(i carry it in],” if you put your postmodern lens on, you can see the fragmentation Cummings uses. Like the lack of punctuation and then the variation, which helps to blur the boundaries between sentences and phrases.
I think that even though The Canterbury Tales is a medieval tradition piece, it still connects to the concept of fragmentation. LIKE, the different narratives of completely different people reflect the fragmented nature of human experience, mind and society.
The term “Poioumena” means “a specific type of metafiction in which the story is about the process of creation,” (Leach). By understanding this word, postmodern readers can apply it very easily to The Canterbury Tales. When Chaucer writes “in fellowship, and they were pilgrims all That towards Canterbury meant to ride,” it sets up the story and how EACH pilgrim will have an individual story. After the Prologue each pilgrim is introduced with their own distinct characteristics, suggesting that they will each have their own tale to tell, exemplifying the poioumena structure of the story.
In Carlos Greaves, "Sure, the Velociraptors are still on the loose, but that’s
no reason not to reopen Jurassic Park,” we can see poioumena again! Greaves writes about COVID-19, but doesn’t ACTUALLY say that it is the coronavirus. He just compares it to Jurassic Park and Gordon Ramsey. Needless to say that Greaves knew what he was doing when mentioning this over-the-top-celebrity. BUT “rest assured things will return to normal sooner rather than later.” Because Greaves is talking about a different story and about the process he thinks is ridiculous, it can be linked to poioumena.
I think that these two sources connect due to the idea of storytelling and how both of these works are about the process of creation, at least either in society or the process of society being messed up (according to Greaves..).
The Canterbury Tales exhibits intertextuality through the references to and incorporation of various historical and cultural texts. Greaves writes in “The Miller’s Tale” about how Miller had “A thumb of gold, by God, to gauge an oat!” (Chaucer 159). This shows the biblical influences throughout the story, in this case by mentioning God. Overall, this story displays the many cultural beliefs and structures, whether that be women's role in society, the different social classes or the religious controversies during that period of time.
Intertextuality can also be seen in the song “Humility” by Gorillaz. This song includes pop culture references, like having Jack Black present, which then adds a layer of familiarity to the listeners/watchers. Even the skateboard type culture, like very laid-back and the rebellious vibe, adds a layer of youth and freedom. Then California-vibe setting of the music video adds yet ANOTHER layer of intertextuality.
These two pieces of work can be grouped into the intertextuality group because of the layers each work has to make it flow and function. The meaning of The Canterbury Tales would be completely different if there wasn’t the diverse blanket of references, it wouldn’t have the same effect.
Within each source, you can see all of the postmodern elements! These are just the ones I found. Because of all of these postmodernism goodies, it is easier to understand the overall meaning of The Canterbury Tales, that being not to judge others based on their rank within society.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wJ57ChtBzQRCNhXn8XP5lrvFxca3zvW_FwW7kj4wG34/edit
