by Candace Barrington

On 5 September, Alireza Mahdipour successfully defended his Ph.D. thesis, “Chaucerian Economies: Reading The Canterbury Tales through New Economic Criticism,” at University of Isfahan, Iran. The topic was a fitting one for Dr. Mahdipour to tackle. Not only has he given us the only Farsi translation of The Canterbury Tales, but Isfahan sits on the Silk Road where it has been a major trading center for centuries. This background certainly shaped why he chose to think about Chaucer’s pilgrims and their tales through an economic lens.

I had hoped to attend his defense via video-conferencing (at 1:30am Eastern Time!), but last-minute technological snafus made my virtual presence impossible. In any case, it’s exciting to have a newly credentialed Chaucerian (with long-standing expertise) in Iran.