Chaucer: His Life, His Works, His World [Paperback]

Donald R. Howard (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 11, 1989

In this award-winning biography, the editor of the most popular edition of The Canterbury Tales re-creates the public, private, and poetic life and times of this extraordinary man. 16-page photo insert.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this massive biography, winner of a National Book Critics Circle Award, Howard, professor of English at Stanford, scans the public and private events of Chaucer's life for their significance to his humanistic art. "Written in a Chaucerian spirit of inquiry and empathy, this is arguably the best literary biography of Chaucer to date," observed PW. Photos.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

YA Howard has assembled the schol arly research of Chaucer experts, giv ing readers, in one source, the best, or at least the consensus. He presents lit tle new in the way of research, although his book is filled with speculation and filling in between the lines. For this rea son, and for others, this book is a fine vehicle for students who wish to learn of Chaucer and his environment. How ard takes readers through Chaucer's life, telling them of the odd and the ev eryday. Students who wish to research Chaucerian ideas will be better served by going to the original sources, and to more current ones. For those who wish to get an overall impression, Howard's book is the answer, for he brings Chau cer to life, and causes readers to see the man. George F. Hawkins, Episcopal High School, Bellaire
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 676 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (February 11, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0449903419
• ISBN-13: 978-0449903414
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.5 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #600,477 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars comprehensive biography, February 8, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Chaucer: His Life, His Works, His World (Paperback)

Extensively detailed biography of this medieval great poet, of interest to anyone interested in the intricacies of medieval history and literature. Definitely not for the dilettante, though much of it is quite readable.
The book is approximately evenly divided between history and literary analysis. We learn of Chaucer's role as a soldier in the wars with France; of his role as appointed court poet and custom's officer; of the black death; of his travels to Italy; we are given a great deal of detail about his literary influences on the Continent and his major literary works, not limited to the Canterbury Tales. Really more for the literary medieval scholar, though anyone interested in history might like it. We learn that Chaucer was probably in London at the time of the Peasants' Revolt.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Important Introduction, September 1, 2008

By 

Kevin (Denver, CO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chaucer: His Life, His Works, His World (Paperback)

This is an important introduction to, as the book's title says, the life, times, and works of Geoffrey Chaucer. For those who are thoroughly versed in the 14th century, or who are intimately familiar with Chaucer scholarship, this work will probably be a rehashing of familiar ground. However, as an introduction for a budding scholar or amateur enthusiast in history or literature, this work is second to none. This book is highly readable, even for those with a casual interest in the subject.

I took a class on Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales", and I read this book as a prelude to the course. I feel that this work provided me with crucial context for Chaucer and his world, and enabled me to appreciate reading the "Tales" in their original Middle English at a much greater level. Thank you Dr. Howard!

0 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Hard to say if what I learned from the book was worth the reading of it, May 3, 2011

By 

Caleb Hanson (Wilmington, MA, US) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Chaucer: His Life, His Works, His World (Paperback)

If I hadn't had a Chaucer-themed event I was preparing for, I would probably not have bothered to finish this book. Some of the problem is just poor editing - but then I notice that Howard died earlier the same year the book was published, and I can see how that sort of thing could interfere with the give and take of good editing. Some of it is that the literary biography is itself a tricky genre, and has to be done just right or it ends up falling between two stools - and Howard did not get it just right. And some of it is just that Howard comes across as an old fuddy-duddy - happily contemptuous of computers and of foreign languages*, and politically pro-Richard II to a degree I've never encountered before. And I don't need an explanation of why, on a journey to Genoa, Chaucer would not experience "jet lag" (jargon-quotes in the original).

I want to give it only one or two stars. But I did learn some new things just when I needed to, so maybe a grudging three.

* "To an English ear, French and Italian when spoken sound like a machine gun.... Heaven only knows what English must sound like to a French or an Italian ear" - Heaven, or he could ask any of 60-some million French citizens or 50-some million Italians. I should think Stanford would have a Romance Language department, but maybe it didn't occur to him to walk across campus and ask.