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Chaucer’s Descendants

Evolutionary biologists help trace the ancestry of a classic

Scientists used software that traces the ancestry of living species to help literary scholars determine which versions of Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales are closest to the original.

 

References:

Barbrook, A., et al. 1998. The phylogeny of The Canterbury Tales. Nature 394(Aug. 27):839.

 

Further Readings:

Oldenburg, D. 1990. Beating Up on the Bard. Washington Post(Dec. 18):B5.

Further information about the Canterbury Tales Project, which is studying differences among the manuscripts, can be obtained at http://www.shef.ac.uk/uni/projects/ctp .

Sources:

Adrian C. Barbrook
University of Cambridge
Department of Biochemistry
Tennis Court Road
Cambridge CB2 1QW
United Kingdom

Christopher J. Howe
University of Cambridge
Department of Biochemistry
Tennis Court Road
Cambridge CB2 1QW
United Kingdom

Peter Robinson
De Montfort University
Faculty for Humanities and Social Sciences
Centre for Technology in the Arts
The Gateway
Leicester LE1 5XY
United Kingdom

Ronald Thisted
University of Chicago
Department of Statistics
5734 University Avenue
Chicago, IL 60637

Winthrop Wetherbee III
Cornell University
Department of English
323 Goldwyn Smith Hall
604 Highland Road
Ithaca, NY 14853

From Science News, Vol. 154, No. 13, September 26, 1998, p. 200.
Copyright Ó 1998 by Science Service.

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