The Life of Geoffrey Chaucer: A Critical Biography (Blackwell Critical Biographies)

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Critical Biography
Review: Dr. Pearsall's Chaucerian Biography is an excellent critical biography that will serve the serious Chaucer scholar well in getting a better acquaintance with biographical contexts in the study of "The Canterbury Tales" as well as other of Chaucer's great poetic works. Pearsall's detailed approach to biographical and literary matters coupled with the fact that he does not conjecture about biographical material makes this edition a wonderful addition to the work on Chaucer scholarship

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Critical Biography
Review: Dr. Pearsall's Chaucerian Biography is an excellent critical biography that will serve the serious Chaucer scholar well in getting a better acquaintance with biographical contexts in the study of "The Canterbury Tales" as well as other of Chaucer's great poetic works. Pearsall's detailed approach to biographical and literary matters coupled with the fact that he does not conjecture about biographical material makes this edition a wonderful addition to the work on Chaucer scholarship

Rating:
Summary: Reading this book is like getting your gums scraped.
Review: Unfortunately, I had to read this book for a class on Chaucer. The book is an unbiased, fact-filled historical account of what is known about Geoffrey Chaucer. It includes a mind-numbing string of references to actual documents related to Chaucer, anything that mentioned him. It is not exciting. It is not fun to read. The good thing is that the author does not take it upon himself to make Chaucer into some kind of hero, or super-poet.