Introduction: Mythical Chaucer
Chaucer is the father of English literature
Chaucer was the first English poet
Chaucer suffered an unrequited love
Chaucer's marriage was unhappy
Chaucer's son Thomas was John of Gaunt's bastard
Chaucer's language is too difficult for modern readers
The Canterbury pilgrims represent all social classes and character types
The Canterbury pilgrims are based on real people
The Canterbury pilgrims form a "merry company"
Chaucer was a feminist
Chaucer was guilty of rape
Chaucer had a falling out with his best friend
Chaucer lived in the Middle Ages
Chaucer was a proto-Protestant
Chaucer was antisemitic
Chaucer was a spy
Chaucer was a crook
Chaucer was a political opportunist
The Wife of Bath murdered her husbands
Chaucer "outs" the Pardoner
Chaucer never finished the Canterbury Tales
Chaucer is obscene
Chaucer was skeptical of chivalry
Chaucer described himself in his works
Chaucer wrote the first psychological novel in English
Chaucer was in danger of being thrown in debtor's prison
Chaucer renounced his works on his deathbed
Chaucer is buried in his own tomb
Chaucer was the first poet laureate
Contemporary literary theory is irrelevant to Chaucer.