Pilgrimage and Storytelling in The Canterbury Tales by Charles A. Owen (review)

Charles Owen's analysis of The Canterbury Tales raises questions not recently sounded in Chaucer criticism. In an attempt to explain the dialectic between "earnest" and "game," Owen explores Chaucer's intention, the chronology of composition, and the sequence of the tales themselves. Some of the results are provocative, some quite satisfactory, and some questionable. Owen's answer to questions about Chaucer's purpose is simple and direct: The Canterbury Tales, he believes, underwent a series of three revisions, which he identifies chronologically: I. 1387-1390? He suggests this is the period of "first conception." Tales included in this period are the Man of Law sequence (Melibeus), the Wife of Bath's Prologue (to line 168), the Parson's Prologue, and perhaps the Constance. From 1391 to 1393, Chaucer abandoned The Canterbury Tales to give his attention to other writing. II. 1394.M398? Owen sees this as the period of resumption, which included expansion of the Wife of Bath's Prologue, conception of the marriage group, formation of Fragments D, C, E-F, B", G, and probably H. Among other revisions, he believes that one of the most vital is the suggestion that the reunion of the Host with his wife would follow the Parson's Tale. III. 1399-