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The Canterbury Tales
It would be impossible to overstate the influence of Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. A work with one metaphorical foot planted in the Florentine Renaissance literary tradition of Boccaccio’s Decameron and the other in works ranging from John Bunyan, Voltaire, and Mark Twain to the popular entertainments of our own time, The Canterbury Tales stands astride the cult...more
Hardcover, unabridged, 576 pages
Published
November 18th 2008
by Modern Library (NY)
(first published 1390)
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Dear Duke Thesus,
What is it with you and threatening women with death during your wedding? Do you think it is romantic?
Dear Wife of Bath,
You go girl!
Dear Chanticlear,
Foxes like chickens in all the wrong ways. Just saying.
Dear Mr. Ackroyd, World's Greatest Renassiance Man,
I've read Chaucer in the orignal both Tales and Trolius. I've tried to read various modern translations.
Tried being...more
What is it with you and threatening women with death during your wedding? Do you think it is romantic?
Dear Wife of Bath,
You go girl!
Dear Chanticlear,
Foxes like chickens in all the wrong ways. Just saying.
Dear Mr. Ackroyd, World's Greatest Renassiance Man,
I've read Chaucer in the orignal both Tales and Trolius. I've tried to read various modern translations.
Tried being...more
view all 5 comments
A classic that has worn well... the psychology, in particular with regard to women, seems remarkably modern! It's funny, and not just in one style either. Sometimes he's subverting the popular cliches of the day, sometimes he's slyly campaigning for women's rights, and sometimes he's just having fun telling dirty jokes. I'm having trouble deciding which style I like most - they're all good, and often mixed up together too.
I once spent a pleasant bus trip sitting next to a grad studen...more
I once spent a pleasant bus trip sitting next to a grad studen...more
Ackroyd, Peter. THE CANTERBURY TALES by Geoffrey Chaucer: A Retelling. (2009). ****. Many of us probably have bad memories of struggling with Middle English in school, trying to translate Chaucer and make sense out of it. What made it worse was that our teachers always gave us versions that were edited to a “G” rating, down from the “R” that really described the originals. Many of us – me included – found translations to help us, but found that they were stilted verse versions of the orig...more
I really love this collection of stories. Who didn't love the Wife of Bath? Or the Friar (a timely parable all Priests and Pastor should read). I loved The Canterbury Tales so much that I memorized the prologue in Old Middle English (and can still partially recite it)...
"Whan that Aprille with his shoures sote
The droghte of Marche hath perced to the rote,
And bathed every veyne in swich licour
Of which vertu engendred is the flour,
Whan Zephirus eek wit...more
"Whan that Aprille with his shoures sote
The droghte of Marche hath perced to the rote,
And bathed every veyne in swich licour
Of which vertu engendred is the flour,
Whan Zephirus eek wit...more
Look out, Bocaccio -- there's a new author of clever, bawdy rhyming tales, and his name is Geoffrey Chaucer! Whether you're a reeve, abbot, or just a simple canon's yeoman, you're sure to find something delightful in this witty, incisive collection. My personal favorites were the one about Chaunticleer the rooster and the one where the dude gets a red-hot poker shoved up his butt. I read it while I was laid up with the plague, and Chaucer's insouciant descriptions and intricate plotting helped i...more
Nathanial
added it
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
bawdy minstrels and blushing maidens, or blushing minstrels and bawdy maidens
i love that the pilgrimage never ends, that they're always going somewhere, and that someone always has a story to tell to pass the time. my favorite part is when chaucer breaks into the mix of voices (each distinct and characteristic) to mock himself as an orator and then proceed to proclaim a long, extensive essay into the histories of judgment, reason, and passion. of course, it's the part of the book that this edition has cut out.
I'm gonna start texting in Chaucer's English.
*declares war on abbreviation*
*declares war on abbreviation*
I don't think I've ever felt more humbled while reading a book. Of course I had read some of these tales as a schoolboy, but really hadn't the education to understand what I was reading. Chaucer's characters are so varied in style and spirit, yet with great ease manage to drop references from Solomon to Ovid, Catullus to Cato, Boethius to Dante and sometimes all within a single paragraph.
How can it be that some fellow from the Dark Ages could be better read than my modern self? How i...more
How can it be that some fellow from the Dark Ages could be better read than my modern self? How i...more
Here are my little critiques of Chaucer's masterpiece, tale by tale.
The General Prologue
A nice introduction to Chaucer's conceit, his characters, storytellers all, and his conversational style. One thing that surprises me, is Chaucer's tendency to halt his narrative for little asides about his choices in detail. It's all a little meta for 14th century literature and disruptive to say the least - I mean, who needs to be told why Chaucer tells us of a character's dress an...more
The General Prologue
A nice introduction to Chaucer's conceit, his characters, storytellers all, and his conversational style. One thing that surprises me, is Chaucer's tendency to halt his narrative for little asides about his choices in detail. It's all a little meta for 14th century literature and disruptive to say the least - I mean, who needs to be told why Chaucer tells us of a character's dress an...more
Writing a "review" of The Canterbury Tales is difficult, not because the book/collection isn't worthy of a review, but because it is so widely variant and has so many nuances to be discussed.
For those who don't know, The Canterbury Tales is a book containing a bunch of stories told by individuals traveling together on a pilgrimage to Canterbury. The book is written in the late 1300s with the pilgrimage set in the same basic time. It begins with a "General Prologue"...more
For those who don't know, The Canterbury Tales is a book containing a bunch of stories told by individuals traveling together on a pilgrimage to Canterbury. The book is written in the late 1300s with the pilgrimage set in the same basic time. It begins with a "General Prologue"...more
I found this rather disappointing, but not because of Chaucer's text, but rather the structure and layout chosen by the author and editors. The facing page arrangement of Middle English vs a modern english translation was good - it kept intelligibility high without losing sight of the original metre / versification. However, all the notes were tucked away at the back of the book, obscurely referenced by an asterix placed seemingly at random in the text to indicate you should look something up....more
I read this in Middle English, so it was extremely challenging, but well worth the extra effort. The "Canturbury Tales" are a collection of stories, all but two of which, were written in verse. In the framing story, 24 pilgrims are on their way from Southwark to Canturbury to visit the Saint Thomas Becket shrine at Canturbury Cathedral. When they stop along the way, they entertain the group with tales, some serious, some hilarious, some racy, some satirical, and some laced with reli...more
I'm actually listening to this on CD and it has been "translated" from it's original "Old English" to a bit more modern English. And I must say, I am grateful that it has been, they provided a snippet of what it might have actually originally sounded like and I could barely understand a single word! It was amazing!
I couldn't finish this. Perhaps it's the translation. Perhaps they didn't translate it enough. Perhaps it's just the content. But I just didn't ca...more
I couldn't finish this. Perhaps it's the translation. Perhaps they didn't translate it enough. Perhaps it's just the content. But I just didn't ca...more
Delightfully bawdy. There are stories in here that sound like stock jokes. I think this is where the man is bedding the miller's wife and to prove that the miller is asleep, they keep pulling hairs out of his arse before they do it. The miller wakes up an one point and says they can have sex all they want but stop taking a talley on his arse.
Or maybe that is a stock joke. Many moons ago.
Or maybe that is a stock joke. Many moons ago.
It's disconcerting to me to look at the "published" date on the listing and see 1390!
I'll admit I probably didn't delve into this as much as scholarly appropriate - I read the translation mostly since plowing through the old english seemed a bit unnecessary since I wasn't reading it for a class. I do appreciate the magnitude of the work however - don't get me wrong.
I was pretty much surprised by the misogyny and the graphic sexuality contained within. I don't...more
I'll admit I probably didn't delve into this as much as scholarly appropriate - I read the translation mostly since plowing through the old english seemed a bit unnecessary since I wasn't reading it for a class. I do appreciate the magnitude of the work however - don't get me wrong.
I was pretty much surprised by the misogyny and the graphic sexuality contained within. I don't...more
The Canterbury Tales is an entertaining romp through the Medieval English countryside. If you don't know what it's about, the Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories told by a group of pilgrims on their way to Canterbury Cathedral. The tales are told as a way to entertain each other on their journey and the one who tells the best tale will earn a fine meal paid for by the other travelers. This is actually an incomplete work as Chaucer died before completing it, but it is a fine example of ea...more
Chaucer [...] came up with the ingenuous literary device of having a pilgrimage, a technique that allowed him to bring together a diverse group of people. Thus Chaucer's narrators represent a wide spectrum of society with various ranks and occupations. From the distinguished and noble Knight, we descend through the pious abbess (the Prioress), the honorable Clerk, the rich landowner (the Franklin), the worldly and crude Wife, and on down the scale to the low, vulgar Miller and Carpenter, and the...more
It would be impossible to overstate the influence of Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. A work with one metaphorical foot planted in the Florentine Renaissance literary tradition of Boccaccio’s Decameron and the other in works ranging from John Bunyan, Voltaire, and Mark Twain to the popular entertainments of our own time, The Canterbury Tales stands astride the cultures of Great Britain and America, and much of Europe, like a benign colossus.
Beyond its importance as a cultural touchstone...more
Beyond its importance as a cultural touchstone...more
I've read both the Middle English (original) version and a few of the translated versions, and I've decided to go back to the original and revisit some of my favorite stories. The Tales, like Don Quixote, are one of those works that I'm *always* reading. They are lifetime books, in that there is always something new there, some nuance I've previously overlooked, some linguistic trick, some emotional capture...always something. Always. It is, I believe, probably one of the finest thin...more
Wow -- can't even think of what to 'categorize' this as...not a classic I should have read a long time ago, not a picture book...Barbara Cohen has done a great job making Chaucer's classic accessible to modern readers, with all the sly humor and beauty...but it's Hyman's illustrations that make this story leap from the pages. I wish I could describe them adequately. The first illustration, a cutaway view of the Tabard, shows the activity of the Inn, the Pilgrims enjoying themselves, and the peop...more
A story about scratching an itch, and going on a grand pilgrimage in the springtime! with knights and faeries, and scantily clad gap toothed women and farting and pryvetee's and bunches more. I figured it as the sitcom of the medieval ages, where Chaucer was like the slippery, unaccountable news reporter. it's his only piece of work that i can handle(even though the old english/germanic vernacular that he wrote in, did at times make me want to kill myself). but it's stood the test of time in ter...more
I like this version more than others because the original Middle English version is on the left page and and the Modern English translation is on the right. The ME translation is good—not the best I have read but not the worst. Tuttle seems to like the word "fart," but then again who doesn't? The Miller's Tale retains its full bawdiness and the rest of Chaucer's work is as lively, obscure, witty, morally vague, and entertaining as ever. Having the Middle English text immediately to ref...more
I really like this edition; there is Middle English on the left side and the Modern English translation on the right. The glossary and introduction notes help to create a satisifying understanding. It is a helpful introduction to Chaucer for high school students.
The Wife of Bath's Tale and The Pardoner's Tale are classics and my students seem to appreciate them. They like drunk good idea of the three frat boys to kill death and the irony of The Pardoner's Tale. There seems to be mixe...more
The Wife of Bath's Tale and The Pardoner's Tale are classics and my students seem to appreciate them. They like drunk good idea of the three frat boys to kill death and the irony of The Pardoner's Tale. There seems to be mixe...more
I read this for class in the original Middle English, with the help of a professor who is fluent in it and a wonderful edition that had a fine guide to the language at the bottom of each page. But after a while, it became self-evident as I became more and more at ease with the syntax, grammar, and vocabulary. Honestly, if you have a good command of English and a flexibility, reading and understanding Middle English is not a taxing task. Then again, having had previous experience learning Japanes...more
Quick note: this is not the "translation" I read; I read pretty much all of them over the summer and into the fall in middle English, referring to a Penguin edition whenever I got confused. I taught the prologue, the Pardoner's tale, and the Wife of Bath's tale in my class this semester.
And they're wonderful. Chaucer had his finger on the pulse of everything that makes life worth living. These stories are bawdy, ridiculous, argumentative, irrational, and most significantly ...more
And they're wonderful. Chaucer had his finger on the pulse of everything that makes life worth living. These stories are bawdy, ridiculous, argumentative, irrational, and most significantly ...more
Just re-reading Canterbury Tales. Of course, as a classic, Chaucer gets five stars. AND Neville Coghill gets five PLUS stars for his wonderful poetic translation from the old English to modern English.
The tales were written over a long period of time, some are bawdy, most are none-to-complimentary of women, some are preachy, one in particular is HORRIBLY anti-semitic. We have to consider the times and worldview in which these tales were written before judging too harshly. I just...more
The tales were written over a long period of time, some are bawdy, most are none-to-complimentary of women, some are preachy, one in particular is HORRIBLY anti-semitic. We have to consider the times and worldview in which these tales were written before judging too harshly. I just...more
This might be not only the worst translation of Chaucer, but the worst translation of anything ever written.
First of all, there shouldn't be translations of Chaucer. Much of Chaucer's meaning comes through the language he uses. Take away the language, and what's left is no longer Chaucer. I can see an argument for translating Chaucer into German, French, Italian, Tagalog, whatever. But into Modern English--that's insulting.
If you can't read Chaucer's Middle English, j...more
First of all, there shouldn't be translations of Chaucer. Much of Chaucer's meaning comes through the language he uses. Take away the language, and what's left is no longer Chaucer. I can see an argument for translating Chaucer into German, French, Italian, Tagalog, whatever. But into Modern English--that's insulting.
If you can't read Chaucer's Middle English, j...more
It's amazing how a book that has been around for centuries can still sound so vivid to today's reader. We usually assume that it is hard to relate to works that have been created at such a distance in time, because literary conventions, audiences, beliefs and popular preoccupations were so different from now. Well, a popular masterpiece with a nice translation can change this view entirely. (NB: having studied part of the text in middle English and compared with the corresponding excerpt in the ...more
Erik Graff
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Anglo-Americans
Recommended to Erik by:
Mr. Silkowski
Shelves:
literature
Before the beginning of each school year at Maine Township High School South we students had to go to pick up our books at the gymnasium ahead of time. Prior to the senior year I went alone and was very excited by the required texts. Having finished all my state requirements for graduation, I was only taking advanced placement courses and the texts were all college level.
One of them was Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in the original, albeit with copious notes. The middle English was d...more
One of them was Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in the original, albeit with copious notes. The middle English was d...more
I've read both the Middle English (original) version and a few of the translated versions, and I've decided to go back to the original and revisit some of my favorite stories. The Tales, like Don Quixote, are one of those works that I'm *always* reading. They are lifetime books, in that there is always something new there, some nuance I've previously overlooked, some linguistic trick, some emotional capture...always something. Always. It is, I believe, probably one of the finest things ever w...more
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Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343 – October 25, 1400?) was an English author, poet, philosopher, bureaucrat, courtier and diplomat. Although he wrote many works, he is best remembered for his unfinished frame narrative The Canterbury Tales. Sometimes called the father of English literature, Chaucer is credited by some scholars as being the first author to demonstrate the artistic legitimacy of the vernacu...more
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“Purity in body and heart
May please some--as for me, I make no boast.
For, as you know, no master of a household
Has all of his utensils made of gold;
Some are wood, and yet they are of use.”
—
14 people liked it
May please some--as for me, I make no boast.
For, as you know, no master of a household
Has all of his utensils made of gold;
Some are wood, and yet they are of use.”
“people can die of mere imagination”
—
11 people liked it
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