The Personality of Chaucer by the late author Edward Wagenknecht (
Wikipedia,
obituary at The Independent), a prominent professor and literary critic who taught at Boston and Harvard University, among others, is his reasonably accessibly-written academic literary analysis
cum quasi-biography of the seminal 14th century Middle English author (
Wikipedia) of
The Canterbury Tales and other early classics, striving to recreate a picture of the man behind the words via the references and themes in his work, free for a limited time courtesy of publisher Endeavour Press.
This was originally published in 1968 by University of Oklahoma Press, and looks pretty nifty, with extensive annotations and the author seems careful to note just how much of it is really glorified speculation backed with extrapolated reasoning and not to be taken as derived truth.
Currently free @
Amazon (available to Canadians & in the UK and pretty much everywhere else Amazon sells worldwide, since this is being done via their KDP Select exclusive-or-else program)
Description
Delve into the genius of the first great English writer.
This book is part of a trilogy devoted to the greatest of the older English poets: Milton, Shakespeare, and here, Chaucer.
What we know about Chaucer’s personal life is still relatively vague.
Wagenknecht assumes the difficult, but always fascinating, task of re-creating a figure dead for many centuries and revealed only by his literary works.
Creating a vivid portrait of Chaucer’s character and personality, Wagenknecht discusses Chaucer’s views, temperament, attitudes, and faith.