CHAUCER STUDIES:
RESEARCH
Editions:
The Riverside Chaucer — Your textbook is a valuable resource; spend some time exploring what’s in there. Heck, you paid enough for it. Far beyond the introductions to each of the works are Explanatory Notes in the back, which you ought to be consulting regularly; Textual Notes, probably useful only if you are doing a microscopically close reading and need to see manuscript variants; an index of proper names; and much more. The Explanatory Notes typically provide bibliographical leads into the various pertinent issues of the Chaucer works.
The Variorum Editions — The library has these extensively annotated volumes of individual Chaucer works. They contain everything possible about the individual work.
The Ellesmere Chaucer: Facsimile Edition — The snazziest early edition of Chaucer’s works from 1410, should you need to consult a manuscript for contextual reasons or those earliest images of the pilgrims.
Indexes:
The MLA International Bibliography — This is the appropriate specialized index for scholarly articles and books published in the fields of languages and literature, accessible online through the library. If you’re an old-school scholar and your library still subscribes to the print copy, you’ll probably find it at: Ref. Room PB 12 .M6.
Journals:
The Chaucer Review –PR 1 .C45.
Studies in the Age of Chaucer — PR 1901 .S89.
Speculum — PN 661 .S65.
Browsing:
PR 1850 – PR 1950 — This for those who like to get lost in the library stacks.
Historical/Biographical:
Dictionary of the Middle Ages — Ref. Room D 114 .D5.
Crow, Martin M. and C.C. Olson, eds. Chaucer Life-Records. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1966.
Gardner, John. The Life and Times of Chaucer. NY: Vintage Books, 1977. PR 190 .5 .G3.
Howard, Donald R. Chaucer: His Life, His Works, His World. NY: Dutton, 1987.
Manly, J.M. Some New Light on Chaucer. NY: 1926. — Manly found historical persons behind the Canterbury pilgrims.
Weir, Alison. Mistress of the Monarchy: The Life of Katherine Swynford, Duchess of Lancaster. NY: Ballantine Books, 2009.
Linguistic:
The Middle English Dictionary (MED) — Available meanings and spellings of words at the time so you can make a case for that pun. PE 679 .M54.
The Oxford English Dictionary — Ref. Table PE 1625 .O87.
A Concordance to the Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer. 1927. — Each word in Chaucer’s works and listings of every time each word appears (with the line given). Ref. Room PR 1941 .T3.
Davis, Norman. A Chaucer Glossary. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1979.
Interpretive:
Donaldson, E.T. Speaking of Chaucer. NY: W.W. Norton and Co., Inc., 1970.
Gibaldi, J. Approaches to Teaching Chaucer’s CT. 1980.
Howard, Donald R. The Idea of the Canterbury Tales. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1976.
Kittredge, G. L. Chaucer and His Poetry. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1915.
– – -. “Chaucer’s Discussion of Marriage.” Modern Philology 9 (1912): 435-467.
Lumiansky, R.M. Of Sondry Folk. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1955.
Malone, Kemp. Chapters on Chaucer. 1951.
Robertson, D.W., Jr. A Preface to Chaucer. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1962.
Rowland, Beryl, ed.. Companion to Chaucer Studies. NY: Oxford University Press, 1979. PR 1924 .R68.
Schoeck, Richard J., and Jerome Taylor, eds. Chaucer Criticism, 2 Vols. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1960.
Williams, George. A New View of Chaucer. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1965.