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Title: The Canterbury Tales (Great Tales) by Geoffrey Chaucer, Philip Madoc, Edward De Souza, Anthony Donovan, Clive Merrison, Clive Swift, Anton Lesser ISBN: 9-6263454-4-6 Publisher: Naxos Audiobooks Ltd. Pub. Date: 01 September, 1995 Format: Audio Cassette Volumes: 3 List Price(USD): $17.98 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.34 (64 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: 700 years old and still going strong
Comment: I remember slogging through The Canterbury Tales in Middle English when I was in high school and although the language is beautiful, having to take time to decipher it all did diminish somewhat the enjoyment of a terrific collection of stories. Since most of us are more comfortable with modern English, a good translation makes all the difference, and Nevill Coghill's excellent translation does full version to Chaucer's book. Reading this version takes the work out of it and makes "The Canterbury Tales" a pure pleasure. Chaucer writes about everyman and his stories represent one of the motliest crews in English literature: the Wife of Bath who has put away five husbands and is looking for a sixth; the pardoner, the reeve, the clerk, the knight, and a host of others from all walks of life. There is something in here for everyone; my three favorite stories are the Pardoner's Tale; the Miller's Tale (reading this in Coghill's translation, I could see why it has been excised from the bowdlerized versions used in high school English classes; it's rude, crude and downright lewd, but it's so hysterical they had to sew my sides up again when I finally stopped laughing), and the Franklin's tale of the knight, the squire and the magician who outdo each other in chivalry. Antisemitism was commonplace in medieval Europe and Chaucer is no more free of it than anyone else of his time; but to say that The Canterbury Tales is not worth reading because Chaucer was true to his time is overstatement. One must accept that Chaucer was as human and imperfect as most of his peers; without compromising the fact that Chaucer was a literary genius who had a profound effect on English language and English literature.
Rating: 5
Summary: A great, easy-to-read retelling of Chaucer's tales
Comment: The biggest hurdle in reading Chaucer is the language. Trying to read his work in Middle English is impossible without really good footnotes, and some of the "translations" are even worse--they're written in a high-blown, pompous style that takes all the fun out of the stories.
All this being so, I was delighted to find the Puffin Classics version retold by Geraldine McCaughrean! The tales are told in an easy-to-read, flowing style that captures the bawdy humor of the originals, without being over-crass (this is a children's book, after all.) I found myself often laughing out loud, and wishing I'd found this version much sooner, because it makes Chaucer fun to read! I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to try Chaucer but feels intimidated by the scholarly-looking versions available in the "Literature and Classics" sections. You won't become expert in reading Middle English, but you WILL see why The Canterbury Tales has such a wonderful reputation!
Rating: 5
Summary: Chaucer is simply sumblime !
Comment: There have been few writers and poets with the same vigor, fortiude and knowledge like that of Geoffrey Chaucer. He is verily in the same league as Sidney, Shakespeare, Donne and Dante. He is writing is as I wrote in the title sublime; it is like he was touched by the hand of God himself and with that pen his writing came to life. Alas, this is an art that is mostly lost these days and most writers of the last 100 years are mediocre to bad compared to the old masters.
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Title: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl, Sir Orfeo by J. R. R. Tolkien ISBN: 0345277600 Publisher: Del Rey Books Pub. Date: July, 1988 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: The Inferno of Dante: A New Verse Translation by Robert Pinsky ISBN: 0374524521 Publisher: Noonday Press Pub. Date: 30 March, 1996 List Price(USD): $10.00 |
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Title: The Canterbury Tales (Cliffs Notes) by James L. Roberts ISBN: 0764585908 Publisher: Cliffs Notes Pub. Date: 22 May, 2000 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: The Divine Comedy: Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso (Everyman's Library, 183) by Dante Alighieri, Allen Mandelbaum, Alighieri Dante ISBN: 0679433139 Publisher: Everyman's Library Pub. Date: 01 August, 1995 List Price(USD): $23.00 |
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Title: Beowulf: A New Verse Translation by Seamus Heaney ISBN: 0393320979 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: February, 2001 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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