The General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales
A Reader's Guide to Essential Criticism
'The General Prologue' to 'The Canterbury Tales' offers a lively and often satiric introduction to Chaucer's diverse group of pilgrims as they set out on the road to Canterbury, and raises issues of class, gender and power relations that are as relevant today as they were in the late fourteenth century.
In this Icon Readers' Guide, J A George provides a detailed introduction to the most important critical debates surrounding 'The General Prologue'. The extracts and essays included here date from as early as 1368, when Eustace Deschamps paid the first recorded tribute to Chaucer's genius, and move chronologically through to the late 1990s. This carefully chosen selection of secondary sources addresses the opinions of early editors of Chaucer, and the continuing interest in the poet by other writers throughout the ages, as well as sociological, gender-based, historical and structural readings of 'The Prologue'.
'Icon Readers' Guides' explore the key critical material relating to major works of world literature. A clear, informative narrative links the extracts and examines their context and importance. From contemporary reviews to postmodern readings, the Guides offer readers a full account of the ways in which the works have been received by academics, critics and the public.
