The "General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales"
Essays, Articles, Reviews

Provides an introduction to various critical debates surrounding "The General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales". This book includes extracts and essays from early as 1368, when Eustace Deschamps paid the first recorded tribute to Chaucer's genius. It addresses the opinions of editors of Chaucer as well as the interest in the poet by other writers.

Taught in schools and universities around the world, and the constant subject of books, essays, and articles down the years, "The General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales" has long been central to the English literary canon. Jodi-Anne George provides a detailed introduction to the most important critical debates surrounding "The General Prologue". The extracts and essays included here date from early as 1368, when Eustace Deschamps paid the first recorded tribute to Chaucer's genius, and move chronologically through to the late 1990s. The selections address the opinions of early editors of Chaucer as well as the continuing interest in the poet by other writers throughout the ages. Sociological, gender-based, historical, and structural readings of "The Prologue" are also represented.

Introduction 1. "Of Engelonde to Caunterbury they Wende": 1368-1880 2. "Tales of Best Sentence and Moost Solaas": 1892-1949 3. "So as it Semed me": The 1950s and 1960s 4. "Th'estaat, th'array, the Nombre, and eek the Cause": The 1970s 5. "What Nedeth Wordes Mo?": The 1980s 6. "She was a Worthy Womman al hir Lyve": The 1990s Appendix -- Table of the relative popularity of Chaucer's poems at different times Notes Select Bibliography Acknowledgements Index