Chaucer and the Late Medieval World
St. Martin's Press, 1998. Hardcover. Item #445044
ISBN: 031210667X
294 pages. A very good copy in a near fine dust jacket. Some dust stains to top text block. Binding is tight and spine is straight.
Divided between the outer world of public affairs and the inner world of poetic insight, Chaucer sought to make sense of his changing, conflicting world. In Chaucer and the Late Medieval World Lillian M. Bisson examines the societal issues that the poet explored in his work. Bisson provides lively interpretations of Chaucer's texts, especially The Canterbury Tales, in the context of the paradigmatic shifts taking place around him, and offers a broad historical overview -- often going back to the Early Christian period -- to help the reader grasp the significance of those shifts. She focuses on three major areas of medieval life: religion, class/commerce, and gender, all of which were experiencing considerable change in the fourteenth century. The book builds a bridge between an unmediated encounter with Chaucer's texts and the more specialized discussions found in most contemporary criticism, and provides a detailed analysis of Christian culture. By placing each topic in a broad cultural context, Chaucer and the Late Medieval World helps the reader to better understand the questions that teased Chaucer's imagination into poetry and to enter into the cultural conversation with which he engaged his audience.
Price: $20.00