The Life and Times of Chaucer

by John Gardner, J. Wolf (Illustrator)

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 & 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 & 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 & a translator of Middle English poetry, Gardner dumps into a pile all the facts we know about the beloved English poet & mixes them with a judicious sampling of literary criticism & 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 & other compelling events of the times; & whatever snippets of Chaucer's own poetry may help shed light on his extraordinary age. Black-&-white illustrations.

Genres: Biography, History, Nonfiction, Medieval, Biography Memoir, Poetry, British Literature

349 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

John Champlin Gardner was a well-known and controversial American novelist and university professor, best known for his novel Grendel, a retelling of the Beowulf myth.

Gardner was born in Batavia, New York. His father was a lay preacher and dairy farmer, and his mother taught English at a local school. Both parents were fond of Shakespeare and often recited literature together. As a child, Gardner attended public school and worked on his father's farm, where, in April of 1945, his younger brother Gilbert was killed in an accident with a cultipacker. Gardner, who was driving the tractor during the fatal accident, carried guilt for his brother's death throughout his life, suffering nightmares and flashbacks. The incident informed much of Gardner's fiction and criticism — most directly in the 1977 short story "Redemption," which included a fictionalized recounting of the accident.

From Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gar...

Reviews

[Randy Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

We know next to nothing about Chaucer. So having a novelist write his biography makes sense. This book is mostly about the times of Chaucer and then Gardner takes what is known about people living in 14th century England and suggests this might fill in the yawning gaps in what we don't know about Chaucer.

I'm okay with that. Geoffrey Chaucer was admired in his times as a poet and frequently gave royal readings of his work that appear to have been well received. Then as now poetry didn't pay the bills and Chaucer was no exception. It appears that Chaucer made his living as a well-place government official that seems to have kept floating on the turbulent political waters of late 14th century England.

He successfully hitched his wagon to the John of Gaunt (Ghent) who was Henry the 3rd's son. Gaunt made sure that Chaucer was well employed. It appears Chaucer was quite a diplomat as he was sent to negotiate critical royal marriages between English princes and European royalty. In these days that was a form of international state-craft and an attempt to secure peace between oftentimes hostile nations. The man was adroit enough to stay in the good graces of Richard II who was deposed and that of his successor, Henry IV.

So we get a fair amount of English history and a sense of daily life in the 14th century. We get a sense of Chaucer as a government factotum too. While Gardner uses Chaucer's poetry to suss out the man's internal thoughts and feelings, it's difficult to give that effort much credence. His poetry wasn't of the intimate kind and there aren't many facts that helps us identify particular events (like the death of Chaucer's wife) with that of when he wrote specific poetry. If Chaucer voiced grief in a poem we don't know if that came before or after the death of his wife.

What we don't get from this biography is the essential question about a life written about; why should be care about the unique aspects of this person? Basically, that is treated in this book as a given. What made Chaucer great and how he achieved his greatness is of little concern. He just is. And maybe its just the mood I'm in but that's okay with me.

[Stephen Weber · Rating 5 out of 5]

A $5 pick from the bargain table at Barnes & Noble -- and $5 very well spent! No need for any familiarity of Chaucer before you read it, Gardner provides all the information you'll need, plus heaps of interesting historical background regarding 14th century Britain. My copy of the book is even better because when I was walking home one day I passed Eddie Izzard on the street, and, not having anything else for him to sign, I asked him to sign my book, which prompted him to laugh and tell me a joke about Chaucer (which I can't remember because I was starstruck...).

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was inspired to read this after Daniel Boorstins chapter on Chaucer in his book The Creators, and Barbara Tuchman’s book A Distant Mirror. Some reviewers say it is written like a novel, which I will warn you it isn’t, although the style is definitely “narrative.” It is a great overview of politics in England from the end of Edward II, through Edward III and Richard II, to the start of Henry IV. Not only did John Gardner know and love Middle English, he believed that Geoffrey Chaucer was the greatest poet who ever lived. His appendix in the back of the book on how to read The Canterbury Tales is extremely valuable. Gardner admits he is more of a writer than a historian, and he over-speculates on Chaucer’s life a great deal. However, the type of information we have about Chaucer is more bureaucratic than anything, so you just try and piece all the receipts together with other well-documented events; and Chaucer’s own writings, of course. The book kind of drags in some places, and you often forget it’s even about Chaucer as you get caught up in the kings and dukes adventures. Were it not for Chaucer’s government positions, we wouldn’t know exactly where he lived, who he worked with, how he did (and did not) settle his debts, etc. Some of the interesting facts I enjoyed about Chaucer are:

-He was a court poet who had the immunity of the court fool or jester, and so was allowed to parody the king and current events if he felt inspired to do so.
-His dad was a “vintner” or winemaker in the wholesale business, but the family name Chaucer meant “shoemaker.” Since his dad was wealthy, he sent Chaucer off to be a page for a noblewoman that was a friend of the family, and that is how his career in government began.
-He studied law, then quickly became a courtier for Edward III and was sent on a million diplomatic missions, even getting captured in a siege in France and then ransomed. Chaucer also travelled to Italy and likely met Petrarch and Boccaccio.
-He eventually became a controller of customs at a port called Aldgate in London, and that career eventually led to him being in charge of public works projects for king Richard II.
-His personal library had about 60 books, which was a staggering amount for a single person back then.
-He apparently knew everyone, was famous and loved for his poetry and humor, and was self-effacing, ironic, and wholesome, always looking at the positive side of every situation.
-He was robbed at least once by highway bandits (about $4,800 worth), and some of the men were eventually hanged or banished.
-He was once taken to court on charges of seduction/rape but an out of court settlement as we would call it ended that ordeal, and he also likely had a mistress.
-He was good friends with John of Gaunt (Duke of Lancaster), and both were sympathetic towards Jon Wycliffe and the Lollards.

[Pamela Dolan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I spent many years in a PhD program at a major university studying medieval literature, and I never came across this book. I wish I had! An enjoyable read that doesn't condescend, this biography really is as much about "the times" as "the life"--and it's excellent at painting a vivid picture of 14th century England. A bonus for audio book listeners: the narrator does a fine job with the passages in Middle English!

[1.1 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gardner skillfully navigates between facts to draw an interesting (and probably fairly imaginative) interpretation of Chaucer that threads through a history of the circumstances around him and his life, mostly. I didn’t get much of an idea of Chaucer as a person, but I won’t complain about that, because it would be silly to expect some kind of poetic/scholarly necromancy. However, the world around Chaucer, and his various travels and travails are covered well enough.

This isn’t a deep and scholarly biography of Chaucer, but it is an amazingly colourful depiction, great for casual readers and a great starting point for the ignorant student looking for insights, facts, and an overview of important contemporaries and concepts.

That said, I wasn’t always fond of Gardner’s writing. Parts of this book are overwritten, sometimes to a strange extent. There are sentences Gardner wrote which were more difficult to get through than 600 year old lines of poetrye in a half-different language—but to be fair (and also to brag because, if nothing else, the poverty I have endured since grants me this) I had familiarity: over a decade ago I had the first 40 lines of Canterbury Tales memorized and I’m sure I was not the worst scholar who ever recited them.

Recommended. With the proviso that you have to care about the late middle ages or Chaucer to get much out of this book. Even if you know plenty about Chaucer or his era, this will still likely satisfy your longing for a colourful rendering. I give it 4 stars because of how much I loved the subject matter and respect the author's earnest attempt to enliven it.

[Alan Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

The novelist mixes fictional recreations of crucial scenes, which amount to educated guesses, with good scholarship and generally well reasoned defenses of his positions on disputed issues in the life of the poet. You always know where you are and though not every reconstruction seems plausible, you do leave the book knowing a great deal about Chaucer and thinking a great deal more about the poet and his works. You also do have a significant encounter with the politics and events of the time as they relate to Chaucer's life.

[Austin · Rating 4 out of 5]

An intriguing quasi-history of Chaucer and the 14th century. As it was published in '77, the information here is likely outdated by newer scholarship, but Gardner's tracing of Chaucer through the rather tumultuous world around him at the time (Edward III to Richard II to Henry IV) is quite enlightening, and sparks comparative interests. e.g. Shakespeare wrote -- in plays with their names -- about both of the kings under whom Chaucer served as a bureaucrat, and it is intriguing to see the conflicts in his choices for characterization and the reconstructed historical record. Further, it is a marvel how vastly the English language changes at this point - in a span of about 200 years, from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales to Shakespeare's corpus.

[Ocean G · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Older girls played ring-dance with boys, especially parish clerks (or so we're told in popular poetry), and had a way of dropping gloves or scarves, which had to be returned late at night through a bedroom window, much to the increase of the population."

I found this for $1.98 at the Book Rack (a local bookstore), and it sat on my shelf of a few months before I finally decided I should give it a go.

The reason I was delaying was that I know very little about Chaucer, and thought I should read some of his works before diving into his biography.

Well, it turns out there wasn't any need. The author's writing is excellent, and it seems like just as much time is spent on the general background, culture, and other people surrounding Chaucer as is spent on his life, interspersed with his verses throughout, so you can get a clear picture as to what was happening and why.

This book actually makes me very curious about the author's fiction, which I'm seeing here on Goodreads. I'll have to check it out.


4.5 Stars

Also, a line about legally-sanctioned wife-beating:
"it was legal to beat a wife into unconsciousness, but not acceptable to beat her until her inert body farted, a sign that she was in shock and might possibly be dying"


http://4201mass.blogspot.com/

[David Massey]

This is a fascinating book about a consummately interesting time in British history. Chaucer lived in a time of plague, hangings and beheadings, pageantry, festivities on a scale that are difficult for the modern mind to imagine, chivalry and treachery, great magic shows, war on land and sea, and wit and scholarship in the courts of the great. It was also the time of the Pearl Poet (John Massey, as Gardner avers and I have read elsewhere), Thomas Mallory, John Gower, John Langland, and Chaucer himself, or in other words, a time rich in great literature; and a time, too, of ubiquitous music, of lost arts (such as how to manufacture burnished brass), and splendid visual art. And Chaucer, placid, smiling, seems to have taken all this in stride while writing some of the greatest literature in the language. This is a wonderful book, full of marvels and surprises. I heartily recommend it.

[Luna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I knew next to nothing about Geoffrey Chaucer other than the fact that he's regarded as the father of English literature and is the author of the Canterbury Tales. This book was difficult to read in some ways,as a non-native speaker of English I had to skip the poetry. A modern translation given alongside the original text would've been much appreciated by a layman like me.
Nonetheless, it was an interesting book. I learned a lot of new information about the middle ages the author being a novelist employs a vivid, imaginative language in some parts that almost makes one feel like as if they're walking the streets of medieval London themselves.
This books also inspired me to learn more about an era that I have often disregarded as "the dark ages"
The middle ages were in a way fascinating and I haven't given it much thought before.

Overall I really enjoyed reading it and learned a lot of new stuff.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had this biography recommended to me as an introductory work to Chaucer's life, poetry, and historical context. And as an introduction for a beginner like me, I found it nice. Most of the book is written like a fictional narrative--so it wasn't heavy to digest--but it also presents and discusses some historical documents from the period, especially related to Chaucer.

On the other hand, it read too much like fiction at times. Sometimes the author was obviously taking sides in history or supporting one interpretation over another based on character tropes and a nearly black-and-white idea of conflict (military and political) as a literary device. This book gave me an overall idea of 14th century history and Chaucer's life, but I'll have a lot to double-check before I can trust it on some particular facts.

[loafingcactus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Would love more stuff like this- an artist with an artist’s analysis of art. The author, though well-educated, is not a historian and puts artistic flourishes into his work that would make a historian cringe. However, the book brings to life the times, the relationships, the interpersonal conflicts, and the humanity of Chaucer and of his work.

The book was published in 1977 USA and, though far from the most interesting thing about the book, the way the author imagines the reader might or might not be able to relate to the political turmoil that Chaucer experienced had changed quite a bit in These Times!

The audio version of the book is excellent.

[Michael Joosten · Rating 4 out of 5]

Copiously footnoted and clearly the result of long study, Gardner is not a dull read and quite willing to insert opinion into a grounded history. Given the circles that Chaucer moved in, as a 14th century version of the national bureaucracy, this is as much a history of the Plantagenets, ca. 1340-1400, as it is of Geoffrey Chaucer.

[Steve Gordon · Rating 3 out of 5]

The only interesting bit of this book is the historical narrative on the King Edwards, the Black Knight, and King Richard II.... the rest is flotsam. And after Grendel and this, Mr. Gardner falls ever so flat for me.

[Nathan Augustine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sort of obnoxious in style, certainly a biased and anachronistic way to approach history general. Thorough and informative, but with major flaws. Probably much better options out there. The edition I had was at leaset quite handsomely illustrated inside and out, which bumped it from 2 stars to 3.

[Aggie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great read, considering it is sort of dated, c.1977. It wasn't boring. It was full of vivid descriptions of the people, places, things, events, diseases, etc. that Chaucer experienced in his, somewhat long life (60 was old in medieval times). It is staggering how much is known about Chaucer, compared to Shakespeare, yet it is utterly fascinating. I recommend this to anyone who, not only loves Chaucer, but medieval history.

[T.J. Radcliffe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read a bit of Chaucer and know a bit about 14th century history, but John Gardner does an excellent job of unifying various threads in this account of the poet's times.

The main events (from an English perspective) in the second half of the 1300's are the internal politics of the Plantagenets (the children and grandchildren of Edward II by Isabella of France), the 100 Years War (with France, in part to assert the right of the children of Isabella to the French throne), the adoption of English as the language of the court, the Peasant's Revolt, and the Plague. None of these events are independent of each other, yet are often studied separately.

By turning his story on the axle of Chaucer's life Gardner is able to bring them all into a single compact tale, since Chaucer--as a minor member of the court, a sometime soldier and diplomat, and a life-long civil servant (or as close as the medieval world could come to such a thing)--was touched by all of these and more.

As such the book is more times than life, as we know relatively little about Chaucer the man, other than what is revealed by his poetry. Gardner-the-novelist has a keen eye for incidental details that illustrate the timeless nature of human folly, which is fundamental focus Chaucer's humane and insightful poetic stories. My favourite is the claim the Edward II's youngest son, John of Gaunt (born to Isabella in Ghent, Belgium) was in fact a changling, swapped at birth for a Flemish imposter. Modern conspiracy theorists of the "birther" kind might be pleased to know their particular delusion has deep historical roots.

If we know less about Chaucer than we might like, this book puts his work in context and is an excellent reader's companion to the poems, adding texture and locality to their universal concerns and observations on the human condition.

[Nd · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book seeking more information on two aspects of Chaucer in particular:

(1) His choice to write in English, rather than the French of the aristocracy or the Latin of the Catholic/Christian priests. Middle English had only recently formed, and it is a significant development as it is the only language in Europe not to have artifical gendering in the grammar. It lost the artificial gendering of its German roots; the table is not "der table", nor is it "la table". This had huge significance as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and the Tractatus of Glanville, for example, make clear that the English translation of Magna Carta considers the rights and responsibility to be based in "person, man or woman". The term "person" is the basis of the 1689 English Bill of Rights and the 1787-1781 US Constitution, whereas the 1789 French Constitution in based in "rights of man". The legacy Latin/Catholic/Holy Roman Empire constitutions, such as those in Latin America today, are based in "rights of man" and "responsibilities of woman". The Irish constitution is based in "responsibilities of woman".

(2) The context of his "Legend of Good Women", which was quite a skilled rebuttal of the Catholic/Christian ideology being proselytized.

I came away with a conclusion that the author wasn't able to separate his own subjective agenda from the "life and times of Chaucer." His use of the royal "we" throughout, a pedantic, pompous intrusion that doesn't show up much in academic writing any more, was distracting to me at first, and then I began to think that this author has an agenda.

The author admits he's not a historian, he's a poet himself. He makes clear his views in the introduction.

He does provide some interesting context, but I'm afraid he misses the mark as a definitive source of information.

[Surreysmum · Rating 4 out of 5]

[These notes were made in 1984:]. I found this most interesting and informative. Although never patronizing, Gardner starts from the assumption (correct in my case) that his reader knows little or nothing about 14th-century history, social or otherwise, and fills in the gaps very nicely. He does not hesitate to go off on a tangent for a bit - to recount some of the goings-on of the generation before Chaucer, for instance - and I was pleased especially by the way the royal dynasty began to sort itself out for me (Shakespeare-history, I call it: always a bit confusing). I was quite surprised at how much hard fact was actually available about Chaucer himself; as a public official and courtier he seems to have left a great many traces behind - more than Shakespeare, it seems. I am not always sure that Gardner's quotations are entirely apposite, but that's a small quibble. The style is clear and straightforward, and the physical aspects of the book very pleasant. I very much enjoyed reading it.

[Kevin Bell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gardner isn't attempting a moment by moment biography of Chaucer here. He's trying to reconstruct the story of the man's life and something of who he was and what he was about. Because of the elaborate record keeping of medieval England and Chaucer's association with many of the most immenent men of his day, there are a lot of boring facts that we can use to place him on the map and fix a date to his movements. But the trouble of teasing the real man out of those facts and out of the very few references he makes to himself in his poetry is difficult. Gardner does an admirable job, and it makes for a good read.

[Kecia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was grounded one summer for being a very naughty teenager...imagine that!...and my father made me go to his office with him everyday and sit there. I bought this book to read during that time. After reading Seton's, Katherine, I felt like I knew Mr. Chaucer so this book caught my eye in the store. Everyone knew I was in trouble but they thought I must be smart to want to read such a book. The book was a bit over my head at the time but I liked it enough to have kept it these 25 years just in case I wish to read it again.

[Kathryn]

I'm still reading, so this is just a partial review. Gardner seems to bring Chaucer's era to life in a way that it's possible to understand him, and his writing in the context of the times.

Just to round out my own experience, I'm also reading the Canterbury Tales in Middle English while listening to a modern translation on Audible. That's a great combination!

Of course, Chaucer wrote a lot more than the Canterbury Tales, and while I've read a bit of it before, I am hoping that John Gardener's book will inspire me to read more and to deepen my experience of those tales.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book drags at times, and the chronology jumps around a lot, but I can easily forgive these faults for John Gardner's superb mock-historical biography of Chaucer. The writing is so loveable and has an easy wit. Gardner embraces all the question marks in Chaucer's life, while dismissing the necessity of filling them in with facts and truth. This is a historical biography for those who know that history truly is story, and are totally okay with that.

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an in-depth study of Chaucer's life and the influences on his writing, especially Canterbury Tales. Besides writing poetry, Chaucer was an official in the court of the King and his family. Throughout turbulent times, Chaucer served the reigning monarch as a courtier, diplomat and civil servant, often traveling to the continent. He was an interesting person, and this is a well written biography.

[David Czuba · Rating 4 out of 5]

A detailed and dense history of life in 14th century Europe, particularly of course England. A fine writer, Gardner suffers from what all Chaucer historians suffer from: interpreting the same old contemporaries. However, Gardner is much more versed in the times, as if he time-traveled to this era, than other dry historians. It may be his Welsh genealogy. Unfortunately, my dog chewed this book apart as well, although not as badly as others in my collection.

[Erik Graff · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a readable review of Geoffrey Chaucer and his works by a specialist in the period who also happened to be a novelist I had come to like from having read his Wreckage of Agathon and Grendel. I picked this up through The Book of the Month Club while still in seminary in New York but only read it years later.

[Hesper · Rating 3 out of 5]

Less a traditional biography than an imaginative reconstruction, where the facts of history are sometimes imaginatively distilled to create a loving tribute by one author to another. Gardner's affection for his subject is evident on every page; at times this reads more like a novel. There might be more rigorous Chaucer biographies out there, but chances are they lack the charm of this one.

[Knut Sigurd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aner ikkje kva som har skjedd i Chaucerforskinga dei siste førti åra, men dette var i alle høve ei festleg bok som etter det eg kan sjå underbygger spekulasjonane sine heilt fint. Fint å høyre mellomengelsken lesen høgt, det gav meg mot til å prøve meg på Troilus and Criseyde.

[Charles Bechtel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Think what you may about his novels,
there's no doubt the man can make characters breathe and sigh. Chaucer lives again in this book, as do his fascinating brethren. A superb effort.

[Lyn Sweetapple · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exceedingly well researched with a great mix of Chaucer's own poetry and the evidence from other scholars to deliver a clear and indepth understanding of Chaucer and his time.