24
E
UR
A
MERICA
fama
’s arbitrary mingling of fact and fiction, with which she enjoys
regaling people (Virgil, 1986: 96-97). In the Virgilian version,
fame’s nature as a hybrid of fact and fiction is pointedly
foregrounded, and Chaucer reworks this aspect in the
House of
Fame
.
The idea that fame is essentially susceptible to change was far
from novel in medieval times. Isidore of Seville, for example,
maintains that the term
fama
(report) applies to both good and bad
things (2006: 124), and the unedifying example of
fama
cited by
Isidore is, interestingly, none other than the case of Dido. Isidore
proceeds to argue that the truth of
fama
is oftentimes highly
suspect, “either adding many things to the truth, or distorting the
truth” (2006: 125).
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By the same token, according to the
Middle
English Dictionary
, fame in its medieval context meant both
“reputation (whether good or bad)” and “any report, rumor, or
widely circulated opinion” (fame, 1953).
The dubious nature of fame is vividly presented in the
House
of Fame
, particularly in Chaucer’s depiction of how the Goddess
indiscriminately bestows fame or ill repute on different groups of
petitioners. Previous critics, therefore, tend to read the
House of
Fame
as a reflection of Chaucer’s contempt for the earthly world.
This view is not unsound, but the argument that Chaucer is
entirely uninterested in earthly fame might not be tenable. There is
no doubt that Chaucer, under the influence of Christian doctrines
and, in particular, Boethius’s disparagement of earthly fame, was
And for every eye she has also a tongue, a voice and a pricked ear.
At night she flits midway between earth and sky, through the groom.
Screeching, and never closes her eyelids in sweet slumber:
By day she is perched like a look-out either upon a roof-top
Or some high turret; . . . (Virgil, 1986: 97)
24
Modern scholarship has further delved into the nuances of
f
ā
ma
, which contains
at least seven shades of meaning: 1. News, tidings; 2. Rumour, hearsay; 3.
Tradition, story; 4. Public opinion, talk; 5. The report which a person has, one's
reputation; 6. One’s good reputation or ill repute; 7. Fame, glory, renown (fama,
1982).
