The Life and Times of Chaucer

I’m binge – reading ( is that a term ?) all the biographies of Chaucer I can find, and was not sure what to expect with this one as I know the author only as the fiction author of a retelling of the Beowulf story (of which opinion is highly divided) I was also afraid that it would be a retelling of everything I already knew. But what a pleasant surprise to find that not only is the book scholarly and interesting, but from the start he sets of to overturn all the things about Chaucer that we think we know. An excellent book.

I went looking for more Gardner and found this, which is absolutely delightful. Gardner’s chatty, relaxed style does not conceal his obvious scholarship but does highlight his own delight in Chaucer, who lacks readership because of language and translation difficulties rather than because he has nothing to say and doesn’t mind taking three volumes to say it – there is no gray in Chaucer, although there is a good deal of rollicking sex. Hopefully this book will inspire readers to do a little digging into gentil Geoffrey. An edition with a Middle English glossary will get most intelligent readers over the hump, and as Gardner makes clear, it’s well worth the effort. Even if you never read any Chaucer, this biography will introduce you to a charming, hardworking, rather lovable – scamp.Gardner’s inclusion of historical and social background illuminates the man as well as the poetry.

I read this book seeking more information on two aspects of Chaucer in particular:

(1) His choice to write in English, rather than the French of the aristocracy or the Latin of the Catholic/Christian priests. Middle English had only recently formed, and it is a significant development as it is the only language in Europe not to have artifical gendering in the grammar. It lost the artificial gendering of its German roots; the table is not “der table”, nor is it “la table”. This had huge significance as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and the Tractatus of Glanville, for example, make clear that the English translation of the Great Charter (Magna Carta) considers the rights and responsibility to be based in “person, man or woman”. The 1689 English Bill of Rights uses only ther term “Person”. “Rights and responsibilities of person/citizen” are the basis of the 1787-1781 US Constitution, whereas the 1789 French Constitution in based in “rights of man”. Also, by contrast, the Latin/Catholic/Holy Roman Empire constitutions, such as those in Latin America today, are based in “rights of man” and “responsibilities of woman”.

(2) The context of his “Legend of Good Women”, which was quite a skilled rebuttal of the Catholic/Christian ideology being proselytized.

I came away with a conclusion that the author wasn’t able to separate his own subjective agenda from the “life and times of Chaucer.” His use of the royal “we” throughout, a pedantic, pompous scholarly intrusion that doesn’t show up much in academic writing any more was distracting to me at first, and then I began to think that this author has an agenda.

The author admits he’s not a historian, he’s a poet himself. He makes clear his views in the introduction.

He does provide some interesting context, but I’m afraid he misses the mark as a definitive source of information.

In this bio, the times are far more interesting than the life. TO make his living as a poet, Chaucer was courtier and upper-level functionary. Much of his life he kept accounts of customs houses, oversaw building projects, and acted as a lawyer and judge, all the while ingratiating himself to aristocratic patrons and the kings. He gave readings of his poems, which were bawdy and splendid with ironies and piquant observations, establishing himself as the greatest poet in Europe of his age and creating a great legacy. However, not only is very very little known of his intimate life, but the details that have been unearthed by scholars in obscure archives are simply banal.

The times are very interesting. First, his life covered the close of the 100 years war, a time of military necessity that anticipated the rise of the absolutist state, with its creation of an administrative apparatus the likes of which the world had never seen. Chaucer was a cog in this evolving machine, which accepted administrators of talent from bourgeois households while subordinating aristocrats to the crown. Second, there were a series of interesting kings, from the legacy of the eccentrically incompetent Edward II to his beloved son (Ed III) until the megalomaniacal Richard II. These developments are covered with beautiful, succinct descriptions that are a pleasure to read. Chaucer knew most of the famous and infamous, including the black prince, John of Gaunt, the notorious courtesan Alice Perrers, and many others. He was also a diplomat, negotiating marriage and trade agreements as well as a representative of the crown that required travel all over England. Nonetheless, there were many functionaries like Chaucer and nothing that he did contributed anything original to this incredible political period, however much he was at the scene and hence a good vehicle to evoke it all.

Unfortunately, the book also attempts to address the innumerable scholarly questions about when and where Chaucer wrote various works. These long stretches are so dull to the lay reader that they can be skipped easily, to find the nuggets of The Times that are far more fun. Gardner also speculates way too much on the unknowable details of Chaucer’s intimate life, such as whether he loved his wife, whether he married her at the behest of his patron to conceal the fact that an aristocrat had impregnated her. Some of this is common sense, but much of it is interpreted in light of his poetry. This fills more than half of the book and was a complete bore to me. Only a specialized academic would find it of interest or even relevant to the narrative.

The book is not easy to read. There are many sections with long quotes, sometimes a page or more, of the archaic English of the time. This adds to the tedium, unless the reader is fluent in middle english. However, Gardner is a wonderful stylist: his prose is uniquely original and elegant.

REcommended for scholars, Gardner fans, and determined lay readers. It is not for the general reader.

A great insight into the past.

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