Chaucer's Tale: 1386 and the Road to Canterbury

Rating: 4 Stars

Review:

One year. That's it. In that year all the pieces fell into, or out of, place. But either way you look at - and most will decidedly say out of place - without the events of 1386, would we have one of the greatest English works ever written? Would we revere Chaucer the way he deserves, as THE FIRST English author/poet? Maybe, maybe not. No doubt these humbling and likely humiliating events in 1386 wore on Chaucer, and it's almost tragic that he's never see the fruits of his labor, or even make a single penny off of it.

This is an interesting text, looking at Chaucer and the world he inhabited in 1386. It is by no means exhaustive - though how much can/will we ever know, 600+ years on? The author sets the scenes nicely, almost too nicely with plenty if addition information about the people moving around Chaucer at the time. You could argue it was too much 'other' information, not directly tied to Chaucer himself, but much of it set up important events to come. And with this volume itself being roughly only 255 pages, it's not as though it was a burden.

While you may not learn anything new from this one if you're already well-versed in the life of Chaucer, it's still an interesting read - in fact I read it in just an afternoon. Recommended for those interested in both the time period and the man himself.