Middle English Literature: A Cultural History

Author / Editor
Cannon, Christopher.

Title
Middle English Literature: A Cultural History

Published
Malden, Mass.: Polity, 2008.

Physical Description
xi, 256 pp.

Series
Cultural History of Literature.

Description
Surveys the forms, topics, and contexts of Middle English writing, clarifying its construction from various literary traditions set against a number of social, economic, and political conditions. The discussion is divided into five broad categories (Technology, Insurgency, Statecraft, Place, and Jurisdiction). The appendices include suggestions for further reading, a chronology, notes and bibliography, and an index. Cannon refers to Chaucer and his works frequently, emphasizing Chaucer's self-fashioning and how it was viewed by subsequent writers.

Chaucer Subjects
Background and General Criticism