Reading the Prioress’s Tale as Recovery Romance, or The Tale of a Prioress, a Sniper, and the Cross-Temporal Weaponization of Empathy

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article argues that the Prioress’s Tale harnesses several narrative elements endemic to a genre of late medieval crusades fantasy—“recovery romance”—in order to weaponize the empathy of its intra- and extratextual audiences. Complementing arguments that have linked the Prioress’s Tale to blood libels abundant in late medieval England, the author contends that the tale borrows from these stories, and specifically from recovery romances, because of their commitment to fantasies of global Christian supremacy achieved through war and genocide. Discerning the link between recovery romance and Chaucer’s tale allows us to reckon fully with the implications of the tale’s Asiatic location and antisemitism. The film American Sniper (2014) provides a contemporary point of comparison.