Chaucer's Last Revision of the 'Canterbury Tales'

Author / Editor
Fisher, John H.

Title
Chaucer's Last Revision of the 'Canterbury Tales'

Published
Modern Language Review 67 (1972): 241-51.

Description
Argues that parts 1-5 of CT represent a "wholesale revision that Chaucer was engaged in at the time of his death," while parts 6-10 "represent an earlier stage of composition." Suggests that Chaucer "introduced dramatic interplay between narrator, tale, and audience" while composing part 7 and discusses where this principle is evident through revision in parts 1 and 3-5 (Marriage Group). Comments on the links between Th, Mel, MkT, and NPT and on the possibility that the "final descriptions" of GP were added as part of this revision.

Chaucer Subjects
Canterbury Tales--General
General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales