중세 작가들 가운데 초서만큼 풍부하고 다양하게 과거부터 전통적으 로 전해 내려오는 민담이나 로맨스, 우화 등을 자신의 이야기 소재로 즐 겨 사용한 사람도 드물다. 그러나 이야기꾼으로서 그의 능력은 과거 이 야기를 단순히 재생산하는 데 있는 것이 아니라 유럽의 다양한 이야기 기법을 동원하여 단순한 구조와 스타일을 지닌 과거 이야기들을 창작에 버금가는 수준의 새로운 이야기로 만들어 냈다는 점에 있다. 뿐만 아니 라, 초서는 이야기가 존재하기 위한 또 다른 중요한 축(軸)으로서 독자 들을 항상 인식하고 있었다. 독자가 존재하지 않는 이야기란 아무런 의 미가 없다는 사실을 누구보다 초서는 잘 알고 있던 당시 전문적인 이야 기꾼이었다. 당시 독자에게 친숙하고 익숙한 이야기를 작품의 소재로 삼 은 것 역시 초서 자신이 향상 염두에 두고 있던 독자들의 구미를 충족시 키기 위한 하나의 방편이었다. 초서가 즐겨 사용하는 이야기 기법들 또 한 단순히 과거 전통적 이야기의 영향에서 벗어나기 위한 초서의 노력 에서 비롯되었다기보다는 독자를 항상 염두에 둔 결과이기도 하다.

No medieval writers in the fourteenth century used the popular stories and the artistry of the popular story-teller as abundantly as Chaucer. In spite of his dependence on the popular literary tradition for his storytelling, Chaucer's narrative stylistics and its effects upon the audience are quite different from those of the popular narrative. Chaucer positively combined the basic plot of old stories with new skills of tale-telling to create, surprisingly, effects that we would not normally expect from them. Chaucer's storytelling techniques, which Chaucer exploits in the basic pattern of the popular tale for certain effects, accompany his audience as a co-author in understanding a tale. Chaucer's storytelling style in its convolution and its multiplicity of voice contrasts with that of a popular storyteller. In the Chaucerian narrative, meaning, or Chaucer's complex upon-point, is wrapped and diffusely proliferated with an ostensible story. Thus, the true meaning of a Chaucerian tale is not found by simply following an omniscient narrator's guideline, but, rather, is discovered through the audience's subjective and critical negotiations of the tale. The Wife of Bath's Tale is the case which commonly reveal the gap between an “outer story" and an “inner meaning" within the tale. Meaning or the authorial viewpoint hidden or wrapped with the techniques of tale-telling withing a story is not given to the reader, but should be sought out by him. The Chaucerian storytelling strategies exploited in the tale function not only to hinder the straightforward narrative flow, but also to evoke doubt and ambivalence on the storyteller's tale-telling in a reader's mind. For example, as a sudden burst of digressive materials intruding upon the basic “Loathly Lady” narrative occurs, the narrator's thoughts and feelings are added to her sermon-like narrative on the topic, “wo that is in mariage.” The result is that, as in the Tale, the Prologue appears digressive and fragmented, and futhermore its flow is delayed by the digressive materials. In addition, these materials contribute to playing down the Wife's authorial voice for the female sovereignty in the Tale and the Prologue and to revealing the gap between the Wife's point of view and the poet Chaucer's point of view.

No medieval writers in the fourteenth century used the popular stories and the artistry of the popular story-teller as abundantly as Chaucer. In spite of his dependence on the popular literary tradition for his storytelling, Chaucer's narrative stylistics and its effects upon the audience are quite different from those of the popular narrative. Chaucer positively combined the basic plot of old stories with new skills of tale-telling to create, surprisingly, effects that we would not normally expect from them. Chaucer's storytelling techniques, which Chaucer exploits in the basic pattern of the popular tale for certain effects, accompany his audience as a co-author in understanding a tale. Chaucer's storytelling style in its convolution and its multiplicity of voice contrasts with that of a popular storyteller. In the Chaucerian narrative, meaning, or Chaucer's complex upon-point, is wrapped and diffusely proliferated with an ostensible story. Thus, the true meaning of a Chaucerian tale is not found by simply following an omniscient narrator's guideline, but, rather, is discovered through the audience's subjective and critical negotiations of the tale. The Wife of Bath's Tale is the case which commonly reveal the gap between an “outer story" and an “inner meaning" within the tale. Meaning or the authorial viewpoint hidden or wrapped with the techniques of tale-telling withing a story is not given to the reader, but should be sought out by him. The Chaucerian storytelling strategies exploited in the tale function not only to hinder the straightforward narrative flow, but also to evoke doubt and ambivalence on the storyteller's tale-telling in a reader's mind. For example, as a sudden burst of digressive materials intruding upon the basic “Loathly Lady” narrative occurs, the narrator's thoughts and feelings are added to her sermon-like narrative on the topic, “wo that is in mariage.” The result is that, as in the Tale, the Prologue appears digressive and fragmented, and futhermore its flow is delayed by the digressive materials. In addition, these materials contribute to playing down the Wife's authorial voice for the female sovereignty in the Tale and the Prologue and to revealing the gap between the Wife's point of view and the poet Chaucer's point of view.

Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, storytelling, narrative techniques, readership