The Life and Times of Chaucer
By John Gardner
1977
First Published
3.90
Average Rating
338
Number of Pages
The facts about Geoffrey Chaucer's life are plentiful enough. It is the connections between the facts that seem to elude us—those subtle nuances of feeling & emotion that a biographer relies on to paint a true, complete portrait. Lacking these, we are almost compelled to make the story up as we go along, weaving together facts, opinions & our own personal biases to flesh out an otherwise bloodless life. For this reason, John Gardner may well be the perfect candidate to construct a life of Chaucer. An award-winning novelist & a translator of Middle English poetry, Gardner dumps into a pile all the facts we know about the beloved English poet & mixes them with a judicious sampling of literary criticism & a heaping dose of lively conjecture. What emerges is a rollicking good tale that might stand on its own, filled with persuasive answers to vexing questions; imaginative reconstructions of the Black Death & other compelling events of the times; & whatever snippets of Chaucer's own poetry may help shed light on his extraordinary age. Black-&-white illustrations.
Avg Rating
3.90
Number of Ratings
203
5 STARS
23%
4 STARS
50%
3 STARS
22%
2 STARS
4%
1 STARS
1%
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