num_pages: 349
description: 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 &amp; 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 &amp; 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 &amp; a translator of Middle English poetry, Gardner dumps into a pile all the facts we know about the beloved English poet &amp; mixes them with a judicious sampling of literary criticism &amp; 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 &amp; other compelling events of the times; &amp; whatever snippets of Chaucer's own poetry may help shed light on his extraordinary age. Black-&amp;-white illustrations.
language: English
title: The Life and Times of Chaucer
titlecomplete: The Life and Times of Chaucer
genres: Historical, History, Classics, Geoffrey Chaucer, Medieval, Biography Memoir, Poetry, Biography, Nonfiction, British Literature
ratings_count: 192
publisher: Alfred A. Knopf (NY)