The author links Chaucer's writings with the medieval optical tradition in its various forms
(scholastic texts encyclopedias exempla vernacular poetry) both in general cultural terms
and through the discussion of specific examples. He shows how the science of optics or
perspectiva provides an account of spatial perception including visual error and
demonstrates how these aspects of optical theory impact on Chaucer's poetry. He provides
detailed and sustained analysis of the spatial content of narratives across the range of
Chaucer's works relating them to optical ideas and making use of Lefebvre's theory of the
production of space. The texts discussed include the Book of the Duchess House of Fame
Knight's Tale Miller's Tale Reeve's Tale Merchant's Tale Squire's Tale and Troilus and
Criseyde.
