English Medieval Narrative in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries

by Piero Boitani, Joan Krakover Hall (Translator)

This is a wide-ranging and detailed study of English narrative verse in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Piero Boitani describes and analyses the undisputed masterpieces of narrative (such as the works of the Gawain poet, Langland, Gower and Chaucer), as well as the anonymous romances and specimens of religious and comic narrative which form the background to the better-known poems. The book is divided by literary genres or structural systems: chapters on the religious, comic and romance traditions are followed by a discussion of dream and visionary narratives and a chapter on story collections including those of Gower. The rest of the book is devoted to Chaucer, who mastered all these types.

324 pages, Paperback

First published August 31, 1982

About the author

Piero Boitani (Roma, 1947) è un filologo, critico letterario e traduttore italiano.
Dantista e anglista, ha dedicato numerosi studi ai miti classici e alla Bibbia. È direttore letterario della Fondazione Lorenzo Valla.