The Making of Chaucer's English: A Study of Words: 39 (Cambridge Studies in Medieval Literature, Series Number 39) - Hardcover

Cannon, Christopher

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0521592747 ISBN 13: 9780521592741

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1999

Synopsis

The Making of Chaucer's English undertakes a substantial reappraisal of the place Chaucer's English occupies in the history of the English language and the language of English literature. It attacks the widespread presumption that Chaucer invented literary English and argues instead that Chaucer's English is generally traditional. It shows that Chaucer's linguistic innovation was as much performance as fact, but it also traces the linguistic strategies that made (and make) the performance of 'originality' so believable. It also includes a valuable history of every word Chaucer uses. The book also interrogates the theory and methodology of historicising languages, so even as it explores how Chaucer's words matter, it also questions why these particular words have acquired such importance for poets and scholars alike for 600 years.

About this title

Review:

"...arguments in the book..succeed well in reading philology through a postmodern lens." Speculum

Book Description:

This book examines the presumption that Chaucer invented literary English, and argues instead that his English is largely traditional. It provides a thorough history of every one of Chaucer's words and maps the origins and patterns of use that have made these words so compelling for 600 years.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0521592747
• ISBN 13: 9780521592741
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 452