Chaucer and the Canterbury Tales
A Short Introduction
Blackwell Introductions to Literature
1. Edition August 2002
188 Pages, Softcover
Wiley & Sons Ltd
This concise and lively survey introduces students with no prior knowledge to Chaucer, and particularly to The Canterbury Tales. Provides essential facts about Chaucer, as well as a framework for thinking about his poetry. Encourages an engaged reading of The Canterbury Tales. Introduces students to the historical and religious background needed to understand the contexts in which Chaucer wrote.
* Provides essential facts about Chaucer, as well as a framework for thinking about his poetry.
* Encourages an engaged reading of The Canterbury Tales.
* Introduces students to the historical and religious background needed to understand the contexts in which Chaucer wrote.
Preface.
Who Was Geoffrey Chaucer?.
Gender and Religion, Race and Class.
Others.
Love.
God.
Visions of Chaucer.
Death.
Conclusion.
Which Tale Was That? A Summary of theCanterbury Tales.
Notes.
Select Bibliography.
Index.
List of Authors, Compilers, Editors, and Translators Referred to
in the Select Bibliography.
Canterbury Tales. It strikes a good balance between the
cultural topics and historical interests that have shaped much
contemporary scholarship and the poetic features - character,
theme, structure, and linguistic play - that have always
attracted Chaucer's readers." Robert Edwards, Pennsylvania State
University
"Hirsch releases the pleasure, vitality, and complexity of the
Canterbury Tales by familiarizing us with the fascinating
otherness of Chaucer's world, and key interpretations by modern
scholars. For anyone studying or teaching the Canterbury
Tales, this informative and readable book will save much
labour, and stimulate much thought." Peter Brown, University of
Kent at Canterbury
"John Hirsh offers persuasive and vivid evocations of Chaucer's
life and times, and his thought world, which provide useful
contexts for his writings. An excellent and original introduction."
Corinne Saunders, Durham University
"Chaucer and the Canterbury Tales includes a great range
of accurate information in its few pages; even more important,
Hirsh's writing is clear and welcoming and his learning and
critical judgments as undogmatic as they are stimulating. [...]
Although always sensitive to what a novice reader might need to
know, Hirsh is never condescending. [...] Hirsh involves us in the
delight of the material and the questions it raises in such a way
that we hardly realize how well we are being instructed...."
Speculum
