Geoffrey Chaucer

Bloom's Classic Critical Views

by Harold Bloom (Editor)

Fourteenth-century author, poet, and civil servant Geoffrey Chaucer is best known for The Canterbury Tales , his major literary achievement. The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories as told by fictional pilgrims on their way to the cathedral at Canterbury. The work is remarkable for its use of the English vernacular and its realistic characters. The essays featured in this updated volume lucidly attest to the power, influence, and importance of Chaucer's writings.

259 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Harold Bloom was an American literary critic and the Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. In 2017, Bloom was called "probably the most famous literary critic in the English-speaking world." After publishing his first book in 1959, Bloom wrote more than 50 books, including over 40 books of literary criticism, several books discussing religion, and one novel. He edited hundreds of anthologies concerning numerous literary and philosophical figures for the Chelsea House publishing firm. Bloom's books have been translated into more than 40 languages. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1995.
Bloom was a defender of the traditional Western canon at a time when literature departments were focusing on what he derided as the "school of resentment" (multiculturalists, feminists, Marxists, and others). He was educated at Yale University, the University of Cambridge, and Cornell University.

Reviews

[Genni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Often overtly didactic, they tested themselves against each other and against the increasingly stated and hence objectified purposes of the narrators. From the conflicts and contrasts and consonances, and from the complex relationships thus set up, emerged series of patterns, which the reader both enjoy and perceives as significant.

Charles A. Owens, Jr.
“The Importance of the Literal”

As you can probably tell, this quote was in reference to The Canterbury Tales, but I thought it served aptly as a description for this book of essays as well. Each essay sets itself up in contrast to the ones before and after, illuminating Chaucer, sometimes giving the reader opposing opinions to think on, and showing his relevance today.