Chaucer in Context: Society, Allegory and Gender (Manchester Medieval Studies) (Paperback)

by S. H. Rigby (Author)

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Product Description

Everyone knows of the Canterbury Tales, acknowledged as one of the leading texts of the English Canon. Consensus about them ends there. Amongst the most written about works of English literature, they still defy categorisation. Was Chaucer a poet of profound religious piety or a sceptic who questioned all religious and moral certainties? Do his pilgrims reflect the actual society of his day, or were they a product of an already well-established literary tradition and convention? Was he a defender of women or a misogynist, who reproduced the antifeminism characteristic of his time? Did his writings present a challenge to the dominant social outlook of late Medieval England or reinforce the status quo? This stimulating new book surveys and assesses these competing critical approaches to Chaucer's work, emphasising the need to see Chaucer in historical context; the context of the social and political concerns of his own day. Writing as a historian, Rigby brings refreshing new insights to this contested old chestnut and Chaucer, and his Tales, are revealed to us as Chaucer's contemporaries would have seen them.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Manchester University Press (March 15, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0719042364
• ISBN-13: 978-0719042362
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,489,340 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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4.0 out of 5 stars Great for school, December 22, 2007

By	Deanna LaCava - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I purchased this book to help me with an assignment in my college British Literature class. The book was very, very helpful.