cover image Chaucer’s Tale: 1386 and the Road to Canterbury

Chaucer’s Tale: 1386 and the Road to Canterbury

Paul Strohm. Viking, $28.95 (304p) ISBN 978-0-670-02643-2

In 1386, when Geoffrey Chaucer lost his bureaucratic job in wool customs—and the attached housing—the little-known poet left his native London and began his remarkable work, The Canterbury Tales, in exile. Strohm, an emeritus professor of medieval literature at Oxford and Columbia Universities, focuses on this one significant year in Chaucer’s life and covers his Aldgate neighborhood and London political intrigue in minute detail. Strohm relates Chaucer’s themes in specific works to life in London, and uses both a current translation and the Middle English version for each selection, which makes it easy for modern readers to follow. An unforgiving portrait of Chaucer’s royal brother-in-law, John of Gaunt, appears to be based largely on one contemporary source; in fact, Gaunt’s patronage of Chaucer allowed him to live comfortably when his income ebbed, since the writer was either comparatively honest or inept at corruption. Strohm’s well chosen public documents and contextual excerpts from Chaucer’s work offer a glimpse into Chaucer’s personal life and literary ambition as well as insight into the horrible year that launched his greatest work. Strohm really shines at literary criticism, which he saves until the end, but this work is probably best for those who already harbor a deep interest in medieval literature or history. [em](Nov.) [/em]