Chaucer and the Subject of History

Chaucer's interest in individuality was strikingly modern. He was aware of the pressures on individuality exerted by the past and by society - by history. Chaucer investigated not just the idea of history but the historical world intimately related to his own political and literary career. This book has shaped the way that Chaucer is read.

The product of one of the most original and powerful minds in medieval literary studies.... The Chaucer book of our generation. - Peter W. Travis, Dartmouth College