Reviews

Independent scholar Rogers (history, emeritus, Juniata Coll.) has previously published studies of 19th-century English fiction. Her intent in this two-volume companion is to help students and general readers better understand the context of English author, poet, and philosopher Geoffrey Chaucer's (1342-1400) world. She addresses that goal through some 150 A-to-Z entries, most ranging from 500 to 1000 words, on various people, habits, beliefs, and customs of the day. Readers will learn, e.g., that in Chaucer's time uncovered arms were considered risquo and that Chaucer made the first reference to dogs in vernacular English literature. There are no separate entries for works and characters (e.g., there is an entry for "Pardoner," but no specific discussion either of Chaucer's title character from "The Pardoner's Tale" or of the tale itself). Many entries include relevant Chaucer quotations in Middle English along with Rogers's own readable translations into modern English. Bottom Line Rosalyn Rossignol's Chaucer A to Z: The Essential Reference to His Life and Works (Facts On File, 1999) is much more comprehensive, while Roger Sherman Loomis's A Mirror of Chaucer's World (Princeton Univ., 1965) is better illustrated. Works narrower in scope, like Jacqueline de Weever's Chaucer Name Dictionary (Garland, 1988) and Arthur Finley Scott's Who's Who in Chaucer (Taplinger, 1974), are more detailed and helpful than Rogers's set. For comprehensive Chaucer collections and for school and public libraries that don't have Chaucer A to Z.-Peter Dollard, Mount Pleasant, MI Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.