THE LIFE AND TIMES OF CHAUCER
by JOHN GARDNER
328 pages. Knopf. $12.50.
As a born teacher will do when he is peddling a beloved subject that is thought to be impenetrable, Novelist and Medievalist John Gardner clowns a bit in this amiable biography of Chaucer. He includes a faker's guide to the pronunciation of Middle English, to which, after a discourse on the swampy places to be avoided in negotiating the letter e, he adds, "If this is too confusing, try to follow, in general, the pronunciation of the Cisco Kid: 'Boot hombray, thees...
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