Abstract
A person who travels to a foreign country may adopt one of several attitudes to the customs and traditions of the country he enters. He may seek to view it in relationship to his own culture, and tend to accept what he finds familiar while ignoring or avoiding what is alien to him. Or he may adopt a kind of ‘colonial’ philosophy, imposing his own system of values and beliefs over the native culture in front of him. Or he may attempt to understand and appreciate as much as he can of the country’s own beliefs and attitudes, in order to understand how the inhabitants live and act.
‘The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.’
L. P. Hartley
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Copyright information
© 1985 Nigel Thomas and Richard Swan
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Thomas, N., Swan, R. (1985). Introduction. In: The Prologue to the Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. Macmillan Master Guides. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-07429-7_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-07429-7_1
Publisher Name: Palgrave, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-333-37290-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-07429-7
eBook Packages: Palgrave Literature & Performing Arts CollectionLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)