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Winston, Robert P. Chaucer's Influence on Barth's The Sot-Weed Factor. American Literature 56, no. 4 (1984): 584-90.

In order to appreciate the richness of the historical tapestry which John Barth has woven in his satire of provincial Maryland, critics have examined a number of possible sources of influence. Jac Tharpe has noted influences as diverse as Odysseus, Plato, rationalistic Cartesians, Candide, Pilgrim's Progress, and Nietzsche's Zarathustra.1 >Other critics have concentrated specifically on Barth's parodic re-creation of the forms of the eighteenth-century novel.2 >While some readers, like Earl Rovit, argue that The Sot-Weed Factor is merely a conjuror's trick of deception and a pointless joke upon the reader,3 >Barth's parody does, in fact, address serious issues like the validity of faith or reason as a means to cope with the world of America. Such a claim can be demonstrated by examining Barth's significant borrowing from a medieval source.

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