Pointner, Frank Erik
Millers' Tales

The Construction of a Professional Identity in Early Modern Texts.

This study traces the various ways in which texts from the 14th to the 18th centuries constructed the identity of one of the most notorious craftsmen, the miller, by focusing on street and folk ballads, folk songs, children's games, judicial documents and various prose writings. A thorough analysis of these texts in their cultural contexts suggests that the image of the miller as an aggressive, lecherous thief, so familiar from Chaucer's 'The Reeve's Tale', has remained relatively constant throughout the centuries, differing, however, in the degree of the aspersions cast on the man of flour. The study is supplemented by an annotated edition including all the texts discussed. 247 Seiten, gebunden (Anglistische Forschungen; Band 394/Universitätsverlag Winter 2009)