“Geoffrey Chaucer” will introduce students to Chaucer’s literary works and current trends of Chaucerian studies. This course will not only focus on Chaucer’s major poems including _The Book of the Duchess_, _The House of Fame_, _The Parliament of Fowls_, _Troilus and Criseyde_, _The Legend of Good Women_, and _The Canterbury Tales_, but also explore how Chaucer interacted with a wide range of literary sources and traditions, from the Bible through the authors of classical antiquity and down to medieval writers from England and the Continent, especially France and Italy.

We will examine Chaucer’s works within their social and cultural context by reading both medieval sources and recent literary criticism. Through discussing Chaucer’s language, concerns, writing strategies, and his critical heritage, we will approach Chaucer’s work historically, textually, and critically. Students are encouraged to shed new light on the studies of Chaucer from various theoretical perspectives such as animal theory, ecocriticism, gender, sexuality, race, affect, history of emotions, visual culture, spatiality, psychoanalysis, the life of things, etc. Together, we aim to contribute to the creative edge of research in this field.

Though readings in this course are mainly in Middle English, no previous experience of Chaucer’s language is required. Students may learn how to read Chaucer from the following websites: Harvard’s Chaucer page “Teach Yourself to Read Chaucer’s English” (http://sites.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/teachslf/less-0.htm) or Harvard’s METRO site “Chaucer Platforms” (http://metro.fas.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do).