The Middle Ages

Author / Editor
Bolton, W. F., ed.

Title
The Middle Ages

Published
London: Barrie & Jenkins; Sphere, 1970.

Physical Description
xxxvii, 413 pp.

Series
History of English Literature in the English Language, Volume 1.

Description
Comprises eight chapters by various authors surveying English literature from the Old English period through Middle English prose. The chapter pertaining to Chaucer includes four sections: 1) a brief account of Chaucer's life (pp. 159-62), by W. F. Bolton; 2) a commentary on CT by D[erek] A. Pearsall (pp. 163-94) that considers the artistic illusion of realism, dramatic approaches to the Tales, variety, contrasts, experimentation, and the validity of narrative as an art form; 3) a discussion of TC by D. S. Brewer (pp. 195-228) that reads the poem as a product of manuscript culture and focuses on love, Troilus's psychology, and the operations of Fortune; and 4) a description of the "Minor Poems and the Prose" by S. S. Hussey (pp. 229-62) that maps Chaucer career as a poet, commenting on individual works, their sequence of composition, and their sources.

Contributor
Pearsall, Derek A.
Brewer, D. S.
Hussey, S. S.

Chaucer Subjects
Chaucer's Life
Canterbury Tales--General
Troilus and Criseyde
Background and General Criticism