The Complete Critical Guide to Geoffrey Chaucer (Routledge Guides to Literature) [Hardcover]

G. A. Rudd (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 4, 2001 | ISBN-10: 0415202418 | ISBN-13: 978-0415202411 | Edition: 1

This comprehensive, user-friendly introduction provides information on Chaucer's life, contexts and works, also outlining major critical views and interpretations from initial publication to the present.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A series on which Routledge is to be congratulated.
–Amy Freeman, University of Washington, for Contemporary Review

This series offers a powerful and timely synthesis of literary history and close reading informed by up-to-date scholarship and contemporary theory: concise and remarkably comprehensive introductions to the life, work and criticism of specific writers.
–Professor Rob Pope, Department of English Studies, Oxford Brookes University.

The Complete Critical Guides to English Literature abound in references to the cultural context of each work and to its past and present reception by the public. They take into account a plurality of critical perspectives: beyond mere information, they include a concise and stimulating presentation of the state of criticism nowadays.
–Professor D. M. Degrois, Université de Paris III

In this ambitious book, Gillian Rudd gives an up-to-date account of what is known of Chaucer's life and times, fresh readings of all the poems, and a succinct survey of criticism. As an introduction to Chaucer for new readers of any age her book is remarkably successful, and probably the best single-author study of its kind available.
–Professor Derek Pearsall, formerly of Harvard University, USA and York University, UK

It's remarkably lucid and succinct, neither simplifying nor jargonizing. The account of Chaucer's life is very well done, and the entries on the texts extremely well-judged. They give enough information to encourage but not exhaust the reader and their judicious, cogent, and lively treatment of major issues about each text stimulates the desire to read or re-read Chaucer himself. Similarly, the account of Chaucer criticism and the Bibliography are well-chosen so as to cover all the important information and offer valuable guidance, while prompting further thought and exploration, and providing jumping off points for this.
–Joycelyn Wogan-Browne, Fordham University

About the Author

Gillian Rudd is Lecturer in English at the University of Liverpool. She is the author of Managing Language in "Piers Plowman"(1992) and of several articles on medieval literature aimed at readers new to the area.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (May 4, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415202418
• ISBN-13: 978-0415202411
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,412,640 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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