Geoffrey Chaucer

by Peter Brown

Geoffrey Chaucer lived through a period of extraordinary a protracted war with France, a devastating plague, the peasants' revolt, religious controversy, and the overthrow of the king. This compact and comprehensive volume--a new work in Oxford's Authors in Context series--offers a wide-ranging account of the medieval society from which works such as The Canterbury Tales and Troilus and Criseyde sprang, and shows how these and other works capture that society in fictional form.

Peter Brown examines significant aspects of the literary scene, such as patronage, audience, and performance, helping to place Chaucer's practices in their historical framework, and Brown frames Chaucer's treatment of love, paganism, and reality within their intellectual and philosophical contexts.

The book also examines the modern reception of Chaucer in film and television adaptations. By placing this great medieval writer's work in the context of his cultural experience, this volume provides the perfect critical companion to Chaucer's life and poetry. The book also includes a chronology of Chaucer's life, suggestions for further reading, websites, illustrations, and a comprehensive
index.

Genres: Biography

272 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2011

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Reviews

[mumu · Rating 4 out of 5]

peter you slayed this one. hope both sides of your pillow are always cold x

[Lew Kaye-skinner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brown presents an interesting and widely researched depiction. He does a commendable job of fulfilling what is apparently the purpose of the series, revealing the context of Chaucer's life and writings. However, I would not recommend this book to anyone who does not have a prior knowledge and interest in the late medieval period. Much of what Brown has to say will be lost on those who do not have a minimal grasp on the broader sweep of British and continental history. On the other hand, if you wish to attain that grasp, you must start somewhere, and Brown takes us far beyond the traditional history of wars and warriors.