A Concise Companion to Chaucer [Paperback]

• 
  
• Opens with a general introductory section discussing London life and politics, books and authority, manuscripts and readers.
  
• Subsequent sections focus on Chaucer’s major works – the dream visions, Troilus and Criseyde and The Canterbury Tales.
  
• Essays highlight the key religious, political and intellectual contexts for each major work.
  
• Also covers important general topics, including: medieval literary genres; dream theory; the Church; gender and sexuality; and reading Chaucer aloud.
  
• Designed so that each contextual essay can be read alongside one of Chaucer’s major works.

List of Illustrations vii

Acknowledgements viii

Notes on Contributors ix

Note on Edition xii

Introduction 1

Part I: Chaucer in Context 11

1 Politics and London Life 13
Marion Turner

2 Manuscripts and Audience 34
Julia Boffey and A. S. G. Edwards

3 Books and Authority 51
R. F. Yeager

Part II: Dream Visions 69

4 Dreaming 71
Steven F. Kruger

5 Courtly Writing 90
Barry Windeatt

Part III: Troilus and Criseyde 111

6 Love in Wartime: Troilus and Criseyde as Trojan History 113&llÃ+