The State of Chaucer Studies: A Brief Survey

The State of Chaucer Studies: A Brief Survey Florence Ridley University of California, Los Angeles sTUOY of th;, ,nigmatk poet and hh wock flom;,he, lik, th, gceen bay tree, as is immediately apparent from the lengthy Chaucer bibliog­ raphy published each year in PMLA.1 Of course, one may question the quality of much of this material which floods the scholarly market place. Rather more frequently of late ideas from the lunatic fringe of twentieth-century literary criticism seem to be assigned to the four­ teenth-century poet; but even the most far out of these are signs of Chaucer's continuing vitality, of continuing interest in his work, and the continuing emergence of new approaches to it. Four times a year The Chaucer Review presents news of activities relative to the poet, interpretative articles dealing with his work, and, once a year, a report on Chaucer research which covers on-going and completed projects, publications, and desiderata. Preparation of the Variorum Chaucer continues apace at the University of Oklahoma, under the general editorship of Paul G. Ruggiers; and a third edition of F. N. Robinson's indispensable classroom text of the works is scheduled to appear under the editorship of Larry Benson and Robert Pratt. The Chaucer Library, first proposed in 1945, has begun to see the light of print. In the words of Professor Pratt, Chairman of the Library Committee, this is to be a series of classical and medieval works that 1 In addition to the annual PMLA bibliographies see Albert C. Baugh, com­ piler, Chaucer in Goldentree Bibliographies (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1968); William R. Crawford, Bibliography of Chaucer 1954-63 (Seattle and Lon­ don: Univ. of Washington Press, 1967); and Dudley D. Griffith, Bibliography of Chaucer 1908-1953 (Seattle: Univ. of Washington Press, 1955). STUDIES IN THE AGE oF CHAUCER 1 (1979). © Copyright 1979 by The New Chaucer Society, The University of Oklahoma. All rights of reproduction in any form reserved. 3 STUDIES IN THE AGE OF CHAUCER Chaucer knew, edited from medieval mss in order to provide texts most nearly like those that Chaucer used, each text to be accompanied by a translation.2 In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries scholars were pri­ marily concerned with historical research upon Chaucer, a number with biographical problems such as the paternity of Thomas Chaucer. But with publication of The Chaucer Life-Records, edited by Martin M. Crow and Clair C. Olson,3 it appears that all that we are ever likely to know about the external facts of the poet's life lies before us. Discussion of his biography goes on, but it now consists of retelling what has been told before, or of almost pure conjecture. For example, John Gardner makes no bones about the nature of his book, The Life and Times of Chaucer, freely acknowledging, "I am no historian, but a novelist and poet," and concluding with a candor apparently meant to be disarming, "we have no choice but to make up Chaucer's life as if his story were a novel, by the play of fancy on the lost world's dust."4 On the whole, the amassing of biographical data, and the preparation of bibliographies, texts, and source material seem well in hand-those technical activities which make the poet and his poetry more accessible. What, then, of the state of our comprehension of the poetry? In 1973 Beryl Rowland pointed out that new critical methods had led to re­ assessment of the aesthetic bases of Chaucer's art. Today critics can, if they will, apply to analysis of his work "scholarly techniques more comprehensive, objective, and scientific than they ever were in the past."5 Understanding of medieval culture has grown apace, and critical under­ standing (some might call it fashion) has progressed from a view of the quaint, warm-hearted Chaucer, subject of the undiscerning if en­ thusiastic praise of a Charles Lamb, or the equally undiscerning blame of a Matthew Arnold, first to the concept of an artist who copied nature, emancipated from artificial medieval literary conventions, then to that 2 Robert A. Pratt, "Communication: Report of the Chaucer Library Committee to the MLA...