Literary Studies

364 LEITERS IN CANADA LITERARY STUDIES Companion to Chaucer Studies, edited by Beryl Rowland (Oxford University Press, viii, 409, $9.50), is less a companion to the study of Chaucer than, as the title accurately states, to Chaucer studies. Some handbooks try to make the poetry itself accessible to the general reader. This one tries to chart a path through the jungle of scholarship and criticism that has grown up around Chaucer. Twenty-two specialists have contributed original essays covering various general aspects of the life and works (such as ''The Man," "Fourteenth-century Society," "Prosody," "Narrative," "Imagery") and particular poems. The design of the Canterbury Tales and the Prologue each receive a chapter; the tales themselves are eclectically dealt with in two chapters structured around genre (romance and fabliau) and two on modes (allegory and irony). Such an organization inevitably leads to the fragmentation and scanting of a few works like the Legend of Good Women, to which no separate chapter is assigned, and many individual tales, but it is not a bad plan on the whole. Every chapter has its own selected bibliography (over 80 of the 400 pages are bibliography). There is of course much overlapping, but it is useful to have a series of speCialized bibliographies with which to work. Several chapters are little more than catalogue summaries of books and articles. Others succeed in bringing order and often new insight to the subjects with which they deal. Space does not permit mention of every one of the many excellent essays, but a few may be Singled out as models of their kind: Payne on rhetoric (including a helpful discussion of his own important but difficult book); Hoffman's reassessment of classical influence on Chaucer in the light of medieval tradition; Wood's welcome piece On the slippery topic of astrology; Brewer bringing the fabliaux up to date with Nykrog's study; Miller's clear explanation of the allegorical approach; Robertson's admirable compression of the COntroversies about the Book of the Duchess with a very fair statement of his own controversial position; McCall's balanced account of Troilus criticism; and Fox's dissection of the cliches about Chaucer's pernicious influence on his lifteenth-century followers. The most interesting chapter is by the one contributor who is not primarily a Chaucerian. Father Shook, the President of the Pontilicial Institute, offers an original and stimulating interpretation of the House of Fame as a "light and humorous statement of a 'new' and perhaps not even consciously developed theory about the origin of a poem." The chapter is learned and refreshingly not LITERARY STUDIES 365 overburdened with scholarly ballast; significantly, it offers the briefest of the bibliographies. Who needs such a Companion? Miss Rowland envisions students, particularly "those who have small library facilities." Yet one wonders how much a student still innocent of the specialist mentality will make out of all the summaries. The essays seem better suited to the professional or the would-be professional. They could and probably will prOvide starting-points for research on many a graduate paper and many an article. Perhaps they will also enable the lecturer to feel up on his subject without devoting all of his spare hours to scholarly books and articles. However, I would not dream of recommending such an "aid" to the average undergraduate for fear that he tum from Chaucer in despair. I cannot agree with Miss Rowland's statement that this book prOvides the "critical background which seems essential for an appreciation of Chaucer's poetry at any but a superficialleveJ." Surely whatever is best and most permanent in Chaucer is available to any intelligent reader who will trouble to master the language and look up the notes. The labours of scholars and critics can be of great value in deepening the understanding of Chaucer, but there is also a danger that they may come between the reader and the poetry. We must be careful not to overestimate our contribution lest we end up teaching not Chaucer but Chaucer Studies. The book has its uses if it is used properly, but it is not, I feel, "essential." Chaucer is a great poet who may be allowed...