Customer Reviews

Chaucer: His Life, His Works, His World

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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!

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.