Literature of the Americas Literature of the Americas 2541-7894 2542-243X IWL RAS https://doi.org/10.22455/2541-7894-2026-20-162-179 Research Article Articles Allusion and “Illusion”: Geoffrey Chaucer in Contemporary American Fantastic Literature 2026 Copyright © 2026, IWL RAS 2026 The influence of medieval literature on modern fantastic fiction seems to be undeniable, but first of all, as a rule, we are talking about fantasy literature, which incorporates plots and images of the Middle Ages. Meanwhile, Geoffrey Chaucer had a definite influence on science fiction and social fiction; he mainly merges with fantasy in children’s and adolescent literature, which is due, among other things, to the desire to include the classical author in the field of view of the young reader. Being widely known in popular culture, Chaucer, in addition to unambiguous allusions such as the use of a narrative structure such as “the story of so-andso”, also generates a wide field of illusory references established on the basis of external similarity (images of representatives of different classes, frivolous plots, naturalistic paintings of “medieval life”, etc.). Conscious and unconscious references to general cultural knowledge, their content and recognition by authors, readers and critics, and the very possibility of articulating them, seem to be an important area of research in fantastic literature. 1. Alton, Spruiell 2014 — Discworld and the Disciplines: Critical Approaches to the Terry Pratchett Works. Edited by Anne Hiebert Alton and William C. Spruiell.Jefferson NC, 2014. D’Antonio 2021 — D’Antonio, Carla S. “The Handmaid’s Tale: An Intertextual Transformation through Storytelling.” American Review of Canadian Studies, no. 51(4) (2021): 592–61.Echard 2008 — Echard, Siân. Printing the Middle Ages. Philadelphia, 2008. Hough 2013 — Hough, Carole. “Names in Chaucer’s Nun’s Priest’s Talе.” The Use and Development of Middle English: Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Middle English. Cambridge, 2008, edited by R. Dance and L. Wright, 215–229. New York, Oxford, 2013.Johnson 2015 — Johnson, Brian. “Language, Power, and Responsibility in The Handmaid’s Tale: Toward a Discourse of Literary Gossip.” Canadian Literature: A Quarterly of Criticism and Review, no. 148 (May 2015): 39–55.Miller 2013 — Miller, Timothy S. “Flying Chaucers, Insectile Ecclesiasts, and Pilgrims Through Space and Time: The Science Fiction Chaucer.” The ChaucerReview 48, no. 2 (2013): 129–165. Senior 2012 — Senior, William A. “Dan Simmons’s Hyperion Cantos: The Fantasy Within.” Hungarian Journal of English and American Studies (HJEAS) 18, no. 1/2 (Spring–Fall, 2012): 213–226.