A Concise Companion to Chaucer

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.

List of Illustrations vii

Acknowledgements viii

Notes on Contributors ix

Note on Edition xii

Introduction 1

Part I: Chaucer in Context 11

1 Politics and London Life 13
Marion Turner

2 Manuscripts and Audience 34
Julia Boffey and A. S. G. Edwards

3 Books and Authority 51
R. F. Yeager

Part II: Dream Visions 69

4 Dreaming 71
Steven F. Kruger

5 Courtly Writing 90
Barry Windeatt

Part III: Troilus and Criseyde 111

6 Love in Wartime: Troilus and Criseyde as Trojan History 113
Andrew Lynch

7 Love and the Making of the Self: Troilus and Criseyde 134
Corinne Saunders

8 Tragedy and Romance in Chaucer’s ‘Litel Bok’ of Troilus and Criseyde 156
Norm Klassen

Part IV: The Canterbury Tales 177

9 Genre in and of the Canterbury Tales 179
Judith Ferster

10 Morality and Immorality 199
Richard Firth Green

11 Marriage, Sexuality and the Family 218
Neil Cartlidge

12 Christianity and the Church 241
John C. Hirsh

Part V: The Sound of Chaucer 261

13 Reading Chaucer Aloud 263
David Fuller

Index 285

Corinne Saunders is Reader in Medieval Literature at the University of Durham. Her previous publications include The Forest of Medieval Romance (1993), Rape and Ravishment in the Literature of Medieval England (2001), Chaucer (2001) in the Blackwell Guides to Criticism series, and A Companion to Romance: From Classical to Contemporary (Blackwell Publishing, 2004). This Concise Companion provides a succinct introduction to Chaucer’s major works, the contexts in which he wrote, and to medieval thought more generally.

The bookopens with a general introductory section, discussing London life and politics, books and authority, manuscripts and readers. Subsequent sections focus on the dream visions, Troilus and Criseyde and the Canterbury Tales respectively, and illuminate key religious, political and intellectual contexts. These sections treating Chaucer’s major works also cover significant general topics, including medieval literary genres; dream theory; the Church; love, marriage and the family; gender and sexuality; Chaucer’s literary inheritance and influence; and reading Chaucer aloud. Contributors combine contemporary historical and cultural scholarship with recent critical emphases.

A Concise Companion to Chaucer is designed so that students can read the appropriate contextual essays alongside each of Chaucer’s major works. Although the focus is on context, the essays also engage directly with Chaucer’s texts.