Derek Brewer (1923–2008)

Chaucer and his World (1978) delivers an account of the poet’s life, his literary development, and the medieval society in which he lived and worked. The author, Derek Brewer (1923–2008), carries significant authority on the topic as a well-recognised Chaucer scholar. Brewer has written and edited other books on Chaucer and medieval literature, as well as lectured on English at Cambridge, served as President of the New Chaucer Society, and founded an academic press specialising in show more medieval studies.

And yet, while penned by an academic, Chaucer and his World is an approachable narrative. It doesn’t delve too far into literary criticism or historical debate and is often conversational in tone. It is worth making the comparison with Meyers’ book London in the Age of Chaucer (1974). Meyers provides more detail on the social, political, religious, and economic structures of medieval London, and on the features distinguishing the city in the 14th century, such as issues with sanitation and the role of trade guilds. But Meyers has relatively little to say about Chaucer himself. Brewer’s book, by contrast, is firmly centred around the life of the poet.

Brewer depicts Chaucer as a portly, career civil servant who achieved relatively high social and financial status but not the influence or wealth attained by some of his contemporaries. He was, it is conceived, efficient but not zealous in his appointed work, which competed for time with his real passion of reading and writing. Drawing inspiration from French and Italian sources, Chaucer was at the vanguard of literary innovation in the English language and had accomplished fame as a poet during his own lifetime. He was a man who was capable of sentimentality and took deep interest in relationships, but who paradoxically could also be quite flippant and detached. His circle of friends and acquaintances must have been very wide, and he avoided throwing himself in with any faction during times of conflict.

The reconstruction of this identity, more than six centuries old, is not without its challenges. Available material provides limited details about his day-to-day life, activities and relationships, as compared to what would be available for a more recent literary personality, or a more prominent historical figure. Brewer draws evidence from Chaucer’s writings and the records where available and bridges the lacunae with informed speculation on the poet’s character, beliefs, and interests. This is not fiction, but enough personal information is collated and deduced that an enterprising novelist could elaborate these foundations into an engaging fictionalisation of Chaucer’s life, à la Burgess’s efforts with Shakespeare in Nothing Like the Sun (1964) and various short stories.

In addition to being aware that there is some conjecture involved in this reconstruction, the Reader should also be mindful that having been published in 1978, some information in Chaucer and his World may now be outdated. For example, Brewer muses that the Round Table at Winchester may have been commissioned by Edward III as a product of his enthusiasm for Arthurian legend, and for activities related to the Order of the Garter, but subsequently published dendrochronology has dated this table to the time of his grandfather, Edward I.

The physical tome itself is well printed and bound (in Japan) and is still in great condition at nearly 50 years old, although naturally the dust jacket is a bit worn. (As an aside the publishers of London in the Age of Chaucer claim that their paper has an effective lifespan of 300 years!) Some further proofreading on page 166 may have been beneficial, but overall, the final product is highly polished and aesthetically pleasing. The copious colour plates of medieval art and artifacts throughout the book, although not always directly related to Chaucer or the specific subject matter at hand, assist greatly in communicating the ambiance of medieval England, as do the ornaments and decorative margins at the head of every chapter. The font has some minor idiosyncrasies but is very readable. Being hardcover and crown quarto sized, this is a large book and not very portable.

Overall, I would recommend this publication to anyone with an interest in medieval literature, as a complement to reading of Chaucer or other studies of the period. It is a prospective companion for the interested reader who wishes to elevate their experience of the poetry with a better understanding of the time and place in which it was written, and a lucid impression of the poet’s character and motivations. show less

This illustrated gazetteer has an authoritative introductory essay by the late Derek Brewer, a distinguished academic and publisher who died in 2008. The illustrations which accompany the introduction all come from late medieval manuscripts in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, and show how their techniques and purposes changed from the fourteenth to the fifteenth centuries. The photographs in the gazetteer proper are by Ernest Frankl, with accompanying maps drawn by Carmen Frankl; I’m show more guessing that both Ernest and Carmen have since passed away as Trinity Hall Cambridge has an Ernest and Carmen Frankl Memorial Fund to cover travel for educational purposes.

Part of a series of souvenir guidebooks by Pevensey Press, Arthur’s Britain consists of about seventy photographs of Arthurian sites with expert commentary. Some of the sites are not found in other such Arthurian guidebooks — for example Wandlebury Ring (perhaps Malory’s “Wandesborow Castle”) and Papworth St Agnes (the abode of a candidate for identification as the Thomas Malory) both figure I suspect because of the Cambridge associations of the book’s producers and publishers. Some of the pictures are superfluous (the reredos and wall-paintings in Winchester Cathedral) or dubious (Arthur’s Bridge over the River Alham), and while some of the photos are magnificent (Richmond Castle, Stonehenge, Trethevy Quoit) others are nondescript (Drumelzier, Camboglanna), a few are pure calendar fodder (Caergai, Loch Lomond) and a number I find technically poor (River Nyfer, Looe Pool). In fact, Cornwall in particular seems mostly to have been photographed during one of the poor summers of the early eighties.

Such criticisms aside, the book lives up to its promise to look at “the land and the legend” without necessarily being exhaustive. One gets the impression of the legend being a living tradition, not as a relic set in amber. It’s just a shame that this hardback, with pretensions to being a coffee table book, is printed on poor quality paper and with photographs looking a little washed out.

So, this Cambridgeshire publication is a bit of a curate’s egg. However, what more suitable establishment to sing Arthur’s praises than Cambridge whose university in the 15th century, “since Oxford University claimed to have been founded by King Alfred, asserted that its own founder was the even more ancient and glorious Arthur”.

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Apparently ex-lib MED but no markings except pencilled price (12/6).

Text taken from Chaucer's Major Poetry, ed. A. C. Baugh (c1963)