Dartmouth professor Peter Travis will discuss the genius, comic wisdom, and enduring humanity of Geoffrey Chaucer, the fourteenth-century “Father of English Poetry,” in a talk at Brooks Memorial Library, 224 Main St., in Brattleboro on January 4 at 7:00 pm.
His talk, “Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales: Still Funny After All These Years,” is part of the Vermont Humanities Council’s First Wednesdays lecture series and is free and open to the public.
Travis’s talk will focus on Chaucer’s masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales, which provide incomparable insights into the variety and richness of medieval life as well as demonstrating the range of Chaucer’s literary genius.
Recently retired from Dartmouth College, Travis taught courses in Chaucer, medieval drama, Old English and Icelandic literature, men’s studies and literary theory. His major field of interest has always been Chaucer, and his book, Disseminal Chaucer, won the Brooks-Warren Prize for excellence in literary criticism in 2010. In his courses on Chaucer, Travis encouraged his students to develop their skills in reading Chaucer’s Middle English aloud, with accuracy and dramatic insight.
For more information call (802)254-5290 or visit www.brookslibraryvt.org.
