4/18/22

What a difference a single word makes!

This book is a companion to Chaucer Studies, not a companion to Chaucer. It makes a great deal of difference -- and, without doubt, restricts its audience. Oh, if you read carefully enough, you will learn a few interesting things about the Canterbury Tales, Troilus and Criseyde, and the rest. But only a few.

The book consists of a series of essays on aspects of Chaucer scholarship, briefly outlining the contents of major publications in the field. If you find a particular idea intriguing, you can use the bibliography to follow up on it. But you won't find much direct information about Chaucer's writings, and even the information about the scholarly articles is brief. Which makes the fact that it is now some decades out of date even more regrettable -- if you're going to slog through scholarly articles about scholarly articles, you'd at least like fresh ones!

This is not to deny the book's usefulness in the right context. Most of the authors here are top-of-the-line Chaucer experts, and within its limits, their contributions are noteworthy. As a guide to the material in the field, it is of great value. But it probably isn't going to inspire you to go and re-read, say, the Knight's Tale. ( )