'Troilus and Criseyde': A Reader's Guide

Description

'Troilus and Criseyde', Geoffrey Chaucer's most substantial completed work, is a long historical romance; its famous tale of love and betrayal in the Trojan War later inspired William Shakespeare. This reader's guide, written specifically for students of medieval literature, provides a scene-by-scene paraphrase and commentary on the whole text. Each section explains matters of meaning, interpretation, plot structure and character development, the role of the first-person narrating voice, Chaucer's use of his source materials and elements of the poem's style. Brief and accessible discussions of key themes and sources (for example the art of love, the holy bond of things, Fortune and Thebes) are provided in separate textboxes. An ideal starting point for studying the text, this book helps students through the initial language barrier and allows readers to enjoy and understand this medieval masterpiece.

Jenni Nuttall is College Lecturer in English at St Edmund Hall and a Research Fellow of Wolfson College, University of Oxford.

'Jenni Nuttall's Troilus and Criseyde: A Reader's Guide provides an invaluable teaching and learning resource which is aimed mainly at students of Chaucer. Its analysis covers the entire text; it is detailed and helpfully divided into sections, with key information highlighted in bold. The commentaries on each passage contain observations on plot, characterization, critical debate, and narrative voice, while close attention is paid to matters of style. Succinct introductions to key themes (Fortune, Felicity, and the Religion of Love, for example) and relevant antecedents (e.g. Petrarch's Sonnet 132) are positioned within discreet text boxes, guiding the reader through some of the central themes of the text.' The Year's Work in English Studies