The news is about two months old, I’m afraid, but I’m nevertheless very happy to announce here that the volume Chaucer’s Book of the Duchess: Contexts and Interpretations (ed. Jamie Fumo) was published in April by Boydell. This is the first collection of essays devoted to Chaucer’s first sustained narrative poem, and I’m honoured to have my work on BoD, the Cursor Mundi, and the social value of fables included among the excellent contributions in the book.

The essays represents a cross-section of approaches, from source studies (Machaut is of course well-represented) to the Duchess‘s later influence (do check out Jeff Espie’s phenomenal piece on Ovid, Chaucer, and Spenser–knocked my socks off), and also brings together a mix of Chaucerian stalwarts and new voices in the field. You can read the publisher’s write-up and view the full Table of Contents here.

My thanks to Jamie Fumo for her excellent work as an editor: this has been an amazingly smooth and efficient experience. Thanks, too, to Caroline Palmer at Boydell, who captained the volume through a very speedy production process, ensuring it was ready for, and available at, Kalamazoo this year. (I sent my comments on page proofs back in early January; the book was published April 20! Absolutely phenomenal.)