Chaucer: Sources and Background [Paperback]

Robert P. Miller (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 23, 1977

Professor Miller has provided one of the most comprehensive collections of primary source material available for the study of Chaucer's works. He has brought together selections from a large number of writers regarded by Chaucer and his contemporaries as authorities in matters ranging from reading to romantic love, chivalric ideals to anti-feminist charges, marriage to human destiny. The selections are drawn from works which Chaucer is known to have used, as well as other works representing significant medieval attitudes toward matters with which he, like many other authors of his day, concerned himself. These include excerpts from de Voragine's 'The Golden Legend', Saint Augustine's 'The City of God', and Boccaccio's 'Filostrato'; also from the Bible, Ovid, Macrobius, Dante, John Gower, and Deschamps, among others. Altogether, these actual texts and ceremonies, with Professor Miller's accompanying notes, help define conventional medieval beliefs and attitudes and provide an excellent introduction to the tradition of literary authority within which Chaucer wrote. In general, the texts are of sufficient length to provide the context within which particular points may appear. A number of the selections appear in English for the first time. Brief head-notes introduce each author and indicate the particular importance of his text. Numerous cross-references have been provided to lead interested students to related materials within this anthology, and, in the annotations, to direct their attention to the literary tradition within which the authors deliberately worked. Designed as a course text for students of Chaucer and medieval literature, this anthology also serves as an excellent scholarly reference.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Excellent collection. Just what I was looking for!"--Mel Seesholtz, Penn State Abington College

"A valuable source of information to support any undergradute course in Chaucer."--Jesse M. Gellrich, Louisiana State University

About the Author

Geoffrey Chaucer was an English author, poet, philosopher, bureaucrat (courtier), and diplomat. He is often referred to as the Father of English Literature.

Product Details

• Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; First edition. edition (June 23, 1977)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195021673
• ISBN-13: 978-0195021677
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #678,362 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Invaluable Guide, May 13, 2010

By 

Tim Jewell (Inland Empire) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Chaucer: Sources and Background (Paperback)

This book is ideal for exploring the sources Chaucer used and, well, abused in his Canterbury Tales. To save the busy scholar from searching endlessly on databases and in libraries for obscure texts and analogues of the Canterbury Tales' subject matter and characters, Miller gathers them all into one volume and provides commentary on the translation process and inspiration behind each of Chaucer's tales. Many of the sources are in the original Latin, French, German, etc., but there is dense annotation provided with each work that compares Chaucer's version of the folklore or literary piece that he utilized.

My Chaucer professor suggested this book for use in preparing for a presentation that various groups in the class were assigned in order to give background information on the history of each tale, and this process was, aside from her lectures, one of the most informative parts of the class. Whether you're a student struggling with Chaucer's relevance to the English language or simply a curious litterateur with interest in the inter-textuality of medieval writing and authorship, then this book will help you immensely.