Chaucer's Tale: 1386 and the Road to Canterbury

Paul Strohm

Paul Strohm’s Chaucer’s Tale: 1386 and the Road to Canterbury charts Chaucer’s growth as a writer from his time as a bureaucrat living in very modest quarters in London’s Aldgate Tower to his banishment in Kent. Chaucer wrote at a time of transition in manuscript production, increases in circulation, and expansion of audiences.

Strohm walks you through Chaucer’s London: a time of political intrigue; unscrupulous merchants; traitors’ heads dangling on the tower scaffold; streets teeming with life; church bells peeling at regular intervals; people shouting and jostling through narrow, cobbled streets; strangers accosting each other, eager to share the latest gossip; and the stench of open sewers wafting through the atmosphere. Incredibly, against this chaotic and noisy and smelly background, Chaucer somehow managed to carve out time and space to write.

Strohm's lively portrayal of London while charting Chaucer's progression as a literary genius is a must read for lovers of Chaucer and his Canterbury Tales.

Dear Committee Members

Julie Schumacher

Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher is a series of letters written by Jason Fitger, a beleaguered English professor in a small liberal arts college. Prof. Fitger writes letters of recommendation on behalf of his students as well as letters pleading for help from administrators and colleagues. 

The novel is laugh out loud hilarious. The bizarre experiences, outlandish events, and colorful characters resonate with anyone familiar with the inner workings of higher education.

The novel is also very poignant: Those same experiences, events, and characters are a reminder of the marginalized status of Humanities and Fine Arts departments in higher education. Prof. Fitger’s attempts to obtain funding and resources for his department as well as his valiant requests for financial support for his students sound like cries in the wilderness.