Approaches to Teaching Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales by Joseph Gibaldi (review)

STUDIES IN THE AGE OF CHAUCER JOSEPH GIBALDI, Approaches to Teaching Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Mod­ ern Language Association: Approaches to teaching masterpieces of world literature 1. New York: Modern Language Association, 1980. Pp. xvi, 175. Paper $6.50. Cloth $13.50. This book is the first in a series of works designed to present a number of viewpoints on the teaching of great works of literature. Except for Shakespeare, Chaucer is the author whom undergraduates not majoring in literature are most likely to encounter, and it is fitting that the series begin with approaches to The Canterbury Tales. As the inaugural volume, this book sets an admirable standard by which subsequent titles may be evaluated. The plan of the book is useful: Part One, Materials; Part Two, Approaches; a list of participants in a survey on teaching Chaucer; a list of works cited; and an index of names and titles. The list of materials includes texts, anthologies, dual language editions, translations, back­ ground materials, critical studies, etc. These are not merely mentioned, but are briefly (and fairly) evaluated by Professor Gibaldi, who has synthesized the opinions and comments of the respondents in the survey. Over one hundred teachers participated, and opinions expressed are based on classroom experience. Any reader considering texts for adop­ tion-whether the complete works, a book of selections, an anthology, or even atranslation-will benefit from the comments included. Thus it iswith ancillary materials: what various teachers expect their students to read, study, or have available constitutes a formidable list, but one which all of us appreciate. Most of the titles are still in print, and many of the best articles in journals have appeared in the anthologies of criticism mentioned in the bibliography. Part Two deals with "Approaches," and its five parts consider the presentation of Chaucer in various modes. First is John Fisher's "The Student as Reader of Chaucer," (and Fisher means 'reader aloud' and so emphasizes the oral performance approach to the poet). Other modes of presentation in this part of the book are the overview of the Chaucer course; specific approaches-rhetorical, linguistic, Boethian, cultur­ al-used in the whole course; Chaucer in the survey course; Chaucer in the thematic course. The authors of these fifteen essays include the well-known and the less-known, but the essays of all are rooted in classroom experience. Some of the articles append course syllabi, but no one included example examination questions (those gave me the most 152 REVIEWS trouble in my first years of teaching). This part of the book raises a few questions which remain after the book is closed. Part One is generally factual, a listing of materials. But Part Two is frankly subjective in its approach, and each reader ofthe book has for implicit comparison his or her own approach to Chaucer. What will the teacher ofChaucer think, after making these compari­ sons? Reactions will range from incredulity (do people really cover that much-or that little-in a limited number of classes?) to an apprecia­ tion of the warmth and affection for the subject which some of these teachers display. The Preface expresses the hope that teachers might want to put the book into the hands oftheir students. But the student is too often seen as a problem in these essays: his lack of background, his ignorance oflanguage, oftradition, ofserious purpose-these overshad­ ow the student as a human being. Chaucer's tone in The Astrolabe is benevolent, and apparently inimitable. IfI were asked to recommend to a new teacher of Chaucer only one essay in this collection, it would be Donald Howard's "The Idea of a Chaucer Course." It is, as Howard mentions, somewhat crochety, but it deals with the students we have now, in the 1980's. It is a practicable approach filled with good advice. Having read the book, one inevitably wonders about the usefulness at this time of a pedagogical approach to Chaucer. Who will adopt many (or any) of the ideas presented? Why wasn't such a book available in the 1960's when colleges were being established, Chaucer courses being added, and students going on to graduate school? The appearance ofthe...