A New Introduction to Chaucer

by Brewer,D. S.

• ISBN13: 9780582093485
• ISBN10: 0582093481
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 1998-05-14
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

This new introduction to Chaucer has been radically rewritten since the previous edition which was published in 1984. The book is a controversial and modern restatement of some of the traditional views on Chaucer, and seeks to present a rounded introduction to his life, cultural setting and works. Professor Brewer takes into account recent literary criticism, both challenging new ideas and using them in his analysis of Chaucer's work. Above all, there is a strong emphasis on leading the reader to understand and enjoy the poetry and prose, and to try to understand Chaucer's values which are often seen to oppose modern principles. A New Introduction to Chauceris the result of Derek Brewer's distinguished career spanning fifty years of research and study of Chaucer and contemporary scholarship and criticism. New interpretations of many of the poems are presented including a detailed account of the Book of the Duchess. Derek Brewer's fresh and narrative style of writing will appeal to all who are interested in Chaucer, from sixth-form and undergraduate students who are new to Chaucer's work through to more advanced students and lecturers.

Table of Contents

Preface	xi	(2)
Acknowledgements	xiii
Prelude	1	(5)
Chapter 1 In the beginning	6	(8)
The new and the old, archaic and modern	6	(1)
The life of a page at court	7	(2)
Chaucer's family	9	(1)
The City of London	10	(4)
Chapter 2 Chaucer's education	14	(18)
Latin	14	(3)
French	17	(1)
Italian	17	(1)
Arithmetic and numerology	18	(2)
Books and speech	20	(3)
The English language	23	(3)
To make his English sweet upon his tongue	26	(2)
The end of schooling and the development of the literate layman	28	(4)
Chapter 3 The courtly life	32	(23)
Froissart's account	32	(1)
The material and practical basis of court culture	33	(3)
Religion in court life	36	(3)
The personal religion of Edward III	39	(1)
Leisure and culture in the court	39	(3)
Chivalry and its ideals	42	(4)
The love of ladies	46	(1)
The tournament	47	(2)
Music in court	49	(1)
Feasting	49	(1)
Literature	50	(1)
Out-of-doors	51	(1)
Chaucer's representation of courtly life	51	(1)
Chaucer's experience of war	52	(3)
Chapter 4 The English and European literary traditions	55	(10)
Early reading	55	(1)
The English romances	55	(1)
English lyrics	56	(2)
Le Roman de la Rose	58	(3)
Machaut	61	(1)
Other reading and influences	62	(3)
Chapter 5 Courtier and soldier	65	(12)
A six-year gap in the records	65	(1)
Continuing education	65	(4)
Chaucer was probably in Aquitaine	69	(1)
Chaucer's wife Philippa	70	(1)
Working in the king's court	71	(2)
King Edward III and the Hundred Years War	73	(1)
The Black Death	74	(3)
Chapter 6 The Book of the Duchess I: quest and commemoration	77	(13)
Grand translateur	77	(2)
The death of Blanche, the Duchess	79	(1)
The story and style of the poem	80	(6)
The strength of an ending	86	(1)
Centre and margin	86	(1)
Quest and questioning	87	(1)
Arithmetic and numerology	88	(2)
Chapter 7 The Book of the Duchess II: dreaming the spoken and written self	90	(11)
Dream poetry	90	(1)
Dream and reality	91	(1)
The construction of the self	92	(2)
Is there a narrator separate from the poet?	94	(2)
Orality and literacy	96	(2)
Literalism	98	(3)
Chapter 8 The Book of the Duchess III: death, laughter, repetition and comfort	101	(11)
Death and laughter	101	(2)
Love and gender roles	103	(4)
Repetition and commemoration	107	(5)
Chapter 9 Diplomat and civil servant: private and public trouble	112	(11)
The Italian journey	112	(1)
Fourteenth-century Italian culture	113	(2)
What Chaucer learned from Italian literature	115	(1)
Comptroller of customs	115	(3)
Chaucer's release from accusation of rape: his friends	118	(1)
Chaucer's political attitude	119	(2)
Withdrawal to Kent	121	(2)
Chapter 10 From House of Fame to Parliament of Fowls: discontent and search	123	(10)
Where do we go from here? A Gothic miscellany	123	(5)
What is fame?	128	(2)
Anelida and Arcite	130	(1)
The Life of Saint Cecilia	131	(2)
Chapter 11 The Parliament of Fowls: communality and conflict	133	(11)
Chapter 12 The fair chain of love: the consolations of philosophy and Venus	144	(19)
How charming is divine philosophy?	144	(1)
Boethius	145	(1)
The form of The Consolation of Philosophy	146	(1)
A great lady instructs the author	147	(1)
The content of the Consolation	148	(2)
Date and quality of the translation	150	(1)
Oxford intellectual scepticism and empiricism	151	(1)
Other intellectual interests and Chaucer's attitude	152	(2)
Astrology	154	(3)
Mythology and mythography	157	(1)
The classical heritage	157	(1)
The scientific basis	158	(1)
The mythographers	158	(1)
Fulgentius to Boccaccio	159	(4)
Chapter 13 The Tale of Palamon and Arcite: love and death	163	(16)
The story of Palamon and Arcite	171	(2)
Some inner structures of the story	173	(1)
The story resumed	173	(2)
Spectacle and implication	175	(4)
Chapter 14 Troilus and Criseyde I: from a view to a death	179	(8)
Chapter 15 Troilus and Criseyde II: characters and critics	187	(25)
The ambiguity of Criseyde	196	(3)
Troilus	199	(1)
Youth, royalty and manhood in the fourteenth century	200	(4)
Troilus's manhood	204	(8)
Chapter 16 Troilus and Criseyde III: the lore of love	212	(31)
Book I: the commentary	212	(2)
The conduct of the story	214	(1)
Book II: the story	215	(2)
Book II: commentary	217	(1)
Characterisation	218	(2)
Realism and society	220	(1)
Words and the poet's attitudes	220	(1)
Book III: the story	221	(2)
Book III: commentary	223	(1)
Honour	224	(1)
Love as a purely personal relationship	225	(1)
Love and destiny	226	(2)
Book IV: the story	228	(3)
Book IV: commentary	231	(1)
The exploration of a dilemma	231	(1)
Variation of style	232	(1)
Book V: the story	232	(5)
Book V: commentary	237	(1)
The ending	238	(1)
The use of the Consolation in Troilus	238	(3)
The question of love	241	(2)
Chapter 17 The Legend of Good Women: Cupid's saints	243	(18)
The Prologue to The Legend of Good Women: its versions and dates	246	(1)
The further creation of the poetic self	247	(1)
Who does Alceste represent?	248	(1)
The naked text	249	(1)
The revision of The Prologue	249	(3)
Let us now praise famous pagan women	252	(2)
Trouthe is the hyeste thyng that man may kepe	254	(1)
Love and marriage	255	(2)
Pathos, goodness and mockery	257	(2)
Let us not praise pagan gods and men too much	259	(1)
Reculer pour mieux sauter	259	(2)
Chapter 18 Prologue to The Canterbury Tales	261	(15)
In felaweshipe, and pilgrimes were they alle	261	(2)
Competition	263	(2)
Social structures	265	(4)
Rhetorical dislocation for location	269	(1)
Manuscript culture	270	(1)
The manuscripts	271	(2)
The sequence of tales	273	(3)
Chapter 19 The Canterbury Tales I: love and rivalry; tragedy and comedy	276	(17)
The raw material of stories	276	(3)
Stories come first, characters second	279	(4)
The Miller's Tale	283	(4)
The Reeve's Tale	287	(4)
The Cook's Tale	291	(2)
Chapter 20 The Canterbury Tales II: constancy and inconstancy; love and anger; trouthe and gentilesse	293	(48)
The Man of Law's Tale	293	(4)
The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale	297	(8)
The Friar's Prologue and Tale	305	(2)
The Summoner's Prologue and Tale	307	(3)
The Clerk's Prologue and Tale	310	(10)
The Merchant's Prologue and Tale	320	(8)
The Squire's Tale	328	(4)
The Franklin's Prologue and Tale	332	(9)
Chapter 21 The Canterbury Tales III: family honour; you find what you seek	341	(16)
The Physician's Tale	341	(9)
The Pardoner's Prologue and Tale	350	(7)
Chapter 22 The Canterbury Tales IV: a gift returned; virginity and martyrdom; parody and prudence; flattery and reversal	357	(20)
The Shipman's Tale	357	(1)
The Prioress's Tale	358	(3)
Sir Thopas	361	(3)
The Tale of Melibee	364	(5)
The Monk's Tale	369	(2)
The Nun's Priest's Tale	371	(6)
Chapter 23 The Canterbury Tales V: spirit and matter; restraint and repentance	377	(21)
The Second Nun's Prologue and Tale	377	(1)
The Canon's Yeoman's Prologue and Tale	378	(4)
The Manciple's Prologue and Tale	382	(10)
The Parson's Prologue and Tale	392	(6)
Chapter 24 Closure and beyond	398	(11)
Select bibliography	409	(11)
Biography	409	(1)
Editions	410	(1)
Bibliographies	410	(1)
Concordances	410	(1)
Dictionary and discography	410	(1)
Facsimiles	411	(1)
Some general studies	411	(1)
Historical and cultural studies	412	(1)
Literary history	413	(1)
Some contemporaries	414	(1)
Language and metre	414	(1)
Some general Chaucer studies	415	(1)
Gender criticism	416	(1)
Sources and analogues	416	(1)
The shorter poems	416	(1)
Troilus and Criseyde	417	(1)
The Canterbury Tales	418	(1)
Reception	418	(1)
Recordings	419	(1)
Index	420