Modern ways of presenting Chaucer have often made his work seem 'normal' so that The Canterbury Tales and its much-studied General Prologue are seen as archetypes of narrative and prologue. Tony Davenport argues that study of Chaucer's major work alongside contemporary English poems reveals the odd and extreme aspects of Chaucer's writing as well as the daring and experimental qualities in his work. The focus of the book is on strategies of narrative and discourse, but also includes discussion of other much-studied Middle English poems.

TONY DAVENPORT is Professor of English at Royal Holloway, University of London, UK.

Preface
Abbreviations
INTRODUCTION: PROLOGUE AND TALE
PROLOGUES
Medieval Prologues
Gower, Langland and Chaucer's General Prologue
Prologues in The Canterbury Tales
TALES
Ideas of Narrative
Tales and Preachers
Fabliau, Confession, Satire
ROMANCES
Romance as a Medieval Genre
The Case of Thomas Chester
English Romances
Chaucer and Romance
CHAUCER, GOWER AND THE GAWAIN-POET
Emare and the Tale of Constance
The Tale of Florent and The Wife of Bath's Tale
Chaucer and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
FORMS OF NARRATIVE
Frameworks
Well-made Narrative
Wayward Narrative
THE GOOD WAY
Notes
Bibilography
Index.