A Concise Companion to Chaucer (Concise Companions to Literature and Culture)

✍ Scribed by Corinne Saunders

• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Year: 2006
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 305
• Series: Blackwell concise companions to literature and culture
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This concise companion provides a succinct introduction to Chaucer’s major works, the contexts in which he wrote, and to medieval thought more generally. Opens with a general introductory section discussing London life and politics, books and authority, manuscripts and readers. Subsequent sections focus on Chaucer’s major works – the dream visions, Troilus and Criseyde and The Canterbury Tales. Essays highlight the key religious, political and intellectual contexts for each major work. Also covers important general topics, including: medieval literary genres; dream theory; the Church; gender and sexuality; and reading Chaucer aloud. Designed so that each contextual essay can be read alongside one of Chaucer’s major works.

✦ Table of Contents

Contents......Page 6
Illustrations......Page 8
Acknowledgements......Page 9
Notes on Contributors......Page 10
Note on Edition......Page 13
Introduction......Page 14
Part One. Chaucer in Context......Page 24
Politics and London Life......Page 26
Manuscripts and Audience......Page 47
Books and Authority......Page 64
Part Two. Dream Visions......Page 82
Dreaming......Page 84
Courtly Writing......Page 103
Part Three. Troilus and Criseyde......Page 124
Love in Wartime: Troilus and
Criseyde as Trojan History......Page 126
Love and the Making of
the Self: Troilus and Criseyde......Page 147
Tragedy and Romance in
Chaucer’s ‘Litel Bok’ of
Troilus and Criseyde......Page 169
Part Four. The Canterbury Tales......Page 190
Genre in and of
the Canterbury Tales......Page 192
Morality and Immorality......Page 212
Marriage, Sexuality and the Family......Page 231
Christianity and the Church......Page 254
Part Five. The Sound of Chaucer......Page 274
Reading Chaucer Aloud......Page 276
Index......Page 298