Publisher's Synopsis
This book serves both as a lucid introduction to Chaucer's narrative poetry (The Book of the Duchess, The Parliament of Fowls, The House of Fame, Troilus and Criseyde, The Legend of Good Women and The Canterbury Tales) for those tackling it afresh, and as an intelligent examination of the themes and techniques employed by Chaucer in these poems, taking comprehensive account of other critical readings and producing its own distinctive and highly readable interpretations, which will interest students who already have a sense of the difficulties the narratives pose. Dieter Mehl's book first appeared in German in 1973. This is the author's own translation, and he has revised the text, updated the bibliography and added to his original version a chapter on The Legend of Good Women, a poem which he considers in the light of Chaucer's attitude to his own art and other critical perspectives.
