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Chaucer's Tale: 1386 and the Road to Canterbury Hardcover – November 13, 2014

by Paul Strohm (Author)

30 customer reviews

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A lively microbiography of Chaucer that tells the story of the tumultuous year that led to the creation of The Canterbury Tales

In 1386, Geoffrey Chaucer endured his worst year, but began his best poem. The father of English literature did not enjoy in his lifetime the literary celebrity that he
has today—far from it. The middle-aged Chaucer was living in London, working as a midlevel bureaucrat and sometime poet, until a personal and professional
crisis set him down the road leading to The Canterbury Tales.

In the politically and economically fraught London of the late fourteenth century, Chaucer was swept up against his will in a series of disastrous events that would ultimately leave him jobless, homeless, separated from his wife, exiled from his city, and isolated in the countryside of Kent—with no more audience to hear the
poetry he labored over.

At the loneliest time of his life, Chaucer made the revolutionary decision to keep writing, and to write for a national audience, for posterity, and for fame.

Brought expertly to life by Paul Strohm, this is the eye-opening story of the birth one of the most celebrated literary creations of the English language.

Chaucer's Tale: 1386 and the Road to Canterbury

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Product Details

Hardcover: 304 pages
Publisher: Viking (November 13, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0670026433
ISBN-13: 978-0670026432
Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 1 x 8.5 inches
Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #148,187 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #73 in Books > Literature & Fiction > History & Criticism > Movements & Periods > Medieval
- #782 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Arts & Literature > Authors

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Customer Reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars

5 star		47%
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3 star		13%
2 star		7%
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful

More about Chaucer's situation than a detailed bio about his life or a critic of his writings

By Debbie TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE VOICE on November 13, 2014

Format: Hardcover

"Chaucer's Tale" is a biography about Chaucer with a focus on the events that led to his decision to write The Canterbury Tales. Not a lot of personal details are know about Chaucer. The author took what the records do say about him and then gave details about what life was like for a person in that position. He also described the politics that influenced Chaucer's life.

For example, we're told details about what life was like in London and how noisy and poorly-lighted his London gatehouse apartment would have been. We're told what the controller of the London wool customs did and what serving on a parliament would have been like so we get an idea of what his jobs were like. We're told what the literary scene was like--how poetry was usually written in certain ways and how it was read to a small audience rather than read in written form.

When the politics went bad, Chaucer lost his support structure and had to re-think his goals. He had to change his audience and writing style, which tapped into the social and technical changes that eventually brought him to fame.

The book was a quick, easy read. As I was more interested in the historical background of Chaucer's life than the man himself, I thoroughly enjoyed the details about the time period and the influences that prompted the creation of The Canterbury Tales. If you're looking for a lot of personal details about the man or a detailed critique of his writings, this may not be the book you're looking for.

I received this book as a review copy from the publisher.

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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful

Takes a While to Get to a Wonderful Insight

By Matthew Ries on November 13, 2014

Format: Hardcover

The importance of Geoffrey Chaucer on English literature cannot be measured, but if not for one bad year both Chaucer and the history of English literature could have been remembered completely differently. Paul Strohm writes in his new book, “Chaucer’s Tale”, that if not for the rapidly changing political environment in 1386 Chaucer’s life might have not provided him the opportunity to write “The Canterbury Tales”.

Strohm begins his microbiography of Chaucer by placing the author within English society as first the son of a wine importer then a courtier and finally a bureaucrat. Chaucer’s connects to the growing Lancastrian family through family connections while politically aligned to Richard II are discussed in connection to the position he received in London. Chaucer’s professional career in London, along with his sideline interest in composing words into poems and tales, is discussed before he is transitioned into a Member of Parliament for the fateful 1386 Parliament.

After setting the stage, Strohm shows how Chaucer became adrift in the political storm that was just beginning in 1386 which resulted in him losing his job and home leading to a change of focus. At this point Strohm gives a glimpse into the emerging culture of English letters in the late fourteenth century and how Chaucer approached the concept of fame before and after 1386. Strohm then relates how Chaucer did something completely different in relation to audience and creating the spark of English literature that would continue through Shakespeare through Joyce to today.

The research that Strohm put into this book is excellent, even with the lack of sources because of the seven centuries gap.Read more ›

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

highly recommended.

By C. Ungar on December 21, 2014

Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase

This is a fascinating book, meticulously researched and highly readable. I have never read an author more knowledgeable about his subject. It's as if he were writing about people he knew personally, and events he'd witnessed himself. Highly, highly recommended.

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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful

Chaucer's Tale: 1386 and the Road to Canterbury is ...

By Robert Grudin on December 8, 2014

Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase

Chaucer's Tale: 1386 and the Road to Canterbury is impossible to put down. And no wonder! Paul Strohm takes on the tense and puzzling political events (the "clutch of adversities") that led to Chaucer's departure from London in the autumn of 1386. Were it not for this crisis--which included Chaucer's leaving his twelve years' position as controller of customs (primarily with the wool trade)-- it's doubtful we would know his name, much less be reading his Canterbury Tales.
The 1386 map of London with which the book opens, and the "List of Principle Figures" that follows, are examples of the ways in which Strohm brings his readers up close to his subject: he's walked the pavements, appreciated the old stone walls, and the distances and perspectives of Chaucer's London, where much of life was lived in the streets. Similarly up-close and discerning is Strohm's use of sources, the whole range of public documents and records. Notably, none of these mention Chaucer as a writer. But the city letter-books, ducal records, chronicles, "the 493 documents of his official life" (published in Chaucer's Life Records, Oxford, 1966), and the occasional (and well chosen) verses of Chaucer's poetry give shape to the poet's outlook , and to powerful (and also less powerful) figures in his life. Strohm's book is perhaps most unusual and generous in drawing the reader into the process of discovery. In lucid and engaging prose Strohm states the case, poses intriguing questions, alerts us to the challenges, and proceeds to build tension and suspense in every chapter. Once you reach the book's conclusion, you can't help but want to begin again!

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

Fun and Informative

While intended as an academic book, it is still a highly entertaining work that takes 1386 as a pivotal year in Chaucer's life, where a reversal of fortunes led to his writing the... Read more

Published 1 month ago by Icecat323

Good

Published 5 months ago by George

This life of Chaucer is an interesting read concerning the politics...

This new book on the Father of English literature as much to say about literacy in the 14th century in the telling Chaucer's tale. Read more

Published 5 months ago by James R C Baker

Well-written, informative and entertaining.

A well-researched, engrossing portrait of Chaucer and his era. At times a little too much detail about the wool trade and customs procedures, but, given the scarcity of information... Read more

Published 5 months ago by Gerald

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this; the author obviously enjoys his subject, and it manages to both educate and entertain without a dull chapter.

Published 8 months ago by Scott Harris

More of a history than biography

Not much new about Chaucer's poems and The Canterbury Tales, but a lot that's new about England in the late medieval era.

Published 9 months ago by Rebstudio

In-depth review: Chaucer's pivotal year

A "microbiography" of the poet's pivotal year of 1386, Chaucer's Tale reconstructs his situation as he entered a mid-life crisis. Read more

Published 9 months ago by John L Murphy

Very intriguing story, but stops just short of what I wanted to know

Very interesting topic that, alas, ended just short of what I really wanted to know. The details of Chaucer's exile from London are fascinating, as are the tantalizing hints of... Read more

Published 9 months ago by Culper, Jr.

Very readable, unbelievably learned

This book is accessible to that nearly extinct species, the general educated public. It is crammed with vivid derail and advances a credible hypothesis, that the low p point of... Read more

Published 10 months ago by Ishbish

Ok

Published 10 months ago by Bullwinkle86

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