Prefatory Note

This Draftings project results from a request by a group of students in my course on Chaucer\u27s The Canterbury Tales for a follow-up course on Chaucer\u27s Troilus and Criseyde. Already having read the most important general studies on Chaucer\u27s works, they were ready to proceed with semi-independent research. Rather than writing a loosely-connected collection of papers, however, they decided to produce a coherent set of essays systematically studying the influence of various writers upon Chaucer\u27s Troilus. Our course focused on the work itself, and on Chaucer\u27s translation of Boethius\u27 De Consolatione Philosophiae, which preceded it. The research on the primary sources Chaucer had available on his writing desk was carried out independently by the students. The result of their work is truly impressive: a volume of studies which represents a full spectrum of the major influences which stand behind Chaucer\u27s most beautiful and important finished poem