' … the sensitivity of the criticism of individual works astonishes and persuades. The Gawain-poet's indication of every sensation, every thought and every move in the temptation scenes; the realization that Piers Plowman is a poem of voices in which time and objects have only a limited value; the shared cultural background which fuses the dialogue between Dreamer and Knight in The Book of the Duchess; the continual frustration of the reader's perceptions that make the book so rewarding.' The Times Higher Education Supplement

• Preface to the English edition; 1. The religious tradition; 2. The comic tradition; 3. The world of romance; 4. Dream and vision; 5. The narrative collections and Gower; 6. Chaucer; Notes; Index.

' … the sensitivity of the criticism of individual works astonishes and persuades. The Gawain-poet's indication of every sensation, every thought and every move in the temptation scenes; the realization that Piers Plowman is a poem of voices in which time and objects have only a limited value; the shared cultural background which fuses the dialogue between Dreamer and Knight in The Book of the Duchess; the continual frustration of the reader's perceptions that make the book so rewarding.' The Times Higher Education Supplement

• Preface to the English edition; 1. The religious tradition; 2. The comic tradition; 3. The world of romance; 4. Dream and vision; 5. The narrative collections and Gower; 6. Chaucer; Notes; Index.