Geoffrey Chaucer (Literature & Life) - Hardcover

Richmond, Velma Bourgeois

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0826405452 ISBN 13: 9780826405456

Publisher: Continuum Intl Pub Group, 1992

Synopsis

Aside from writing The Canterbury Tales and generally being considered the first poet to create a substantial body of work written in a language that is recognizably like modern English, Geoffrey Chaucer (1340?-1400) was also an accomplished translator and all-around gentleman of fourteenth-century England. Nearly five-hundred items detail his public career, testifying to his importance in his own time. He was a soldier, a member of the king's household, a controller of customs, a member of diplomatic missions abroad, a justice of the peace, a clerk of the king's works (and thus in charge of extensive building), and even a forester. But it is as author of the uncompleted Canterbury Tales as well as Troilus and Criseyde and other masterpieces of Middle English that Geoffrey Chaucer is best remembered.
This biographical-critical book begins with a thorough consideration of Chaucer's life, his language, his milieu, and religious beliefs, before going on to a detailed discussion of the Tales - a treasury of medieval story telling that evokes the Middle Ages while being thoroughly timeless in its inventive richness. Several chapters are devoted to the study of the Canterbury Tales (secular romances, fabliaux, religious romances and saints' legends, tales with satiric warnings, and sermons). The following chapters examine lyrics, translations, and other works, including "An ABC" and "Complaint unto Pity," The Book of the Duchess, The House of Fame, Boece, The Parliament of Fowls, and Troilus and Criseyde.
Like Shakespeare, Chaucer has a universal quality that appeals and has been accessible from his own time to the present. His remarkable body of work continues to attract readers nearly six-hundred years after his death and will likely do so for all time.

About this title

From Library Journal

After a brief biography that places Chaucer in the historical and cultural context of the 14th century, Richmond devotes most of her energies to The Canterbury Tales. She divides the tales by connections through subject and tone into Secular Romance, Fabliaux, Religious Romances and Saint's Legends, Tales with Satiric Warnings, and Sermons. Each tale is summarized, analyzed, and then placed within the framework of the entire poem. Chaucer's other works are given individual mention, and recurring characteristics are found that reveal his growth as a writer. The logical format of the book and its clear, uncluttered style make it an accessible introduction to a growing body of Chaucer criticism. Recommended.
- Jacqueline Adams, Carroll Cty. P.L., Westminster, Md.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Continuum Intl Pub Group
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0826405452
• ISBN 13: 9780826405456
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 215