Chaucer Criticism, Volume 1
The Canterbury Tales

R.J. Schoeck (Edited by), Jerome Taylor (Edited by)

9780268000363

Paperback / softback, published 31 October 1974

320 pages
17.8 x 10.8 x 1.8 cm, 0.262 kg

"The breadth and variety of Chaucer criticism makes it impossible to satisfy everyone...but this offers a convenent, reliable, and inexpensive alternative to give students an opportunity for first-hand evaluation of Chaucer criticism." —Rocky Mountain Review

Eighteen varied yet strikingly complementary approaches to The Canterbury Tales challenge the reader to fuller appreciation of Chaucer's art both in its formal aspects and in its larger human implications. Numerous artistic and historical problems are treated in these essays, including the narrative point of view established by Chaucer the pilgrim, the possible architectonic function of The Parson's Tale, the medieval controversy over the friars, the pronouncements of the medieval church on the Jews, and the socio-economic background of the fourteenth century. This anthology is distinct not only because of the excellence of individual selections but also in the fact that the selections, though diverse in origin and approach, together contribute to a unifying view of the Canterbury Tales and to a just evaluation of Chaucer's full stature among the giants of literature.