Processing Conditions in Narrative Interpretation: A Structural Account of CF/EF Divergence in "The Clerk's Tale”

This paper applies the framework established in Paper 19, "Cognition Is Not Content: A Structural Account of Processing Conditions," to re-describe Chaucer's "The Clerk's Tale" from The Canterbury Tales. The same narrative produces two incompatible interpretations: a record of domestic violence, and a story of genuine love. This divergence does not arise from differences in ethical judgment or emotional response. It arises from structural differences in the conditions under which information is reconstructed. This paper does three things. First, it analyzes the characters Walter and Griselda in terms of CF (Core-foregrounded) and EF (Modulation-foregrounded) processing conditions. Second, it describes the divergence between a CF reading and an EF reading of the same narrative. Third, it extends this divergence to fairy tales, fables, and AI anthropomorphization, demonstrating a shared processing structure across these cases. The divergence in narrative interpretation is not a divergence in meaning. It is a divergence in reconstruction conditions.