The Canterbury Tales: A Retelling

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Overview

A fresh, modern prose retelling captures the vigorous and bawdy spirit of Chaucer's classic

Renowned critic, historian, and biographer Peter Ackroyd takes on what is arguably the greatest poem in the English language and presents the work in a prose vernacular that makes it accessible to modern readers while preserving the spirit of the original.

A mirror for medieval society, Chaucer's Canterbury Tales concerns a motley group of pilgrims who meet in a London inn on their way to Canterbury and agree to take part in a storytelling competition. Ranging from comedy to tragedy, pious sermon to ribald farce, heroic adventure to passionate romance, the tales ...

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Overview

A fresh, modern prose retelling captures the vigorous and bawdy spirit of Chaucer's classic

Renowned critic, historian, and biographer Peter Ackroyd takes on what is arguably the greatest poem in the English language and presents the work in a prose vernacular that makes it accessible to modern readers while preserving the spirit of the original.

A mirror for medieval society, Chaucer's Canterbury Tales concerns a motley group of pilgrims who meet in a London inn on their way to Canterbury and agree to take part in a storytelling competition. Ranging from comedy to tragedy, pious sermon to ribald farce, heroic adventure to passionate romance, the tales serve not only as a summation of the sensibility of the Middle Ages but as a representation of the drama of the human condition.

Ackroyd's contemporary prose emphasizes the humanity of these characters-as well as explicitly rendering the naughty good humor of the writer whose comedy influenced Fielding and Dickens-yet still masterfully evokes the euphonies and harmonies of Chaucer's verse. This retelling is sure to delight modern readers and bring a new appreciation to those already familiar with the classic tales.

Editorial Reviews

From Barnes & Noble
Most of us first encountered Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales as required school reading. Now that those days are happily past, we can enjoy this ever-ripe 14th-century classic as the rich diversion it was meant to be. We can't think of anyone more qualified to achieve that worthy purpose than free-range critic/historian/biographer Peter Ackroyd, already the author of a brief biography of Chaucer. Ackroyd's prose version captures the disparate methods and tones of the individual tales, never relinquishing the robustness of this informal storytelling competition. This Canterbury Tales reminds us of what we should have never forgotten: Classics became that way because they grip us.
Harold Bloom
Retelling Chaucer in our contemporary prose necessarily is a great loss, yet so rich is Chaucer that enormous value remains in Ackroyd's robust versions of The Canterbury Tales…Ackroyd is happiest and in his best form with Chaucer's sublime ribaldry: the tales told by the Miller, the Reeve and the Summoner.
—The New York Times
More Reviews (1) Fewer Reviews
From The Critics
Ackroyd's retelling of Chaucer's classic isn't exactly like the Ethan Hawke'd film version of Hamlet, but it's not altogether different, either. Noting in his introduction that the source material “is as close to a contemporary novel as Wells Cathedral is to an apartment block,” Ackroyd translates the original verse into clean and enjoyable prose that clears up the roadblocks readers could face in tackling the classic. “The Knight's Tale,” the first of 24 stories, sets the pace by removing distracting tics but keeping those that are characteristic, if occasionally cringe-inducing, like the narrator's insistence on lines like, “Well. Enough of this rambling.” The rest of the stories continue in kind, with shorter stories benefiting most from Ackroyd's treatment, though the longer entries tend to... ramble. The tales are a serious undertaking in any translation, and here, through no fault of Ackroyd's work, what is mostly apparent is the absence of the original text, making finishing this an accomplishment that seems diminished, even if the stories themselves prove more readable. (Nov.)

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780670021222
  • Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
  • Publication date: 10/29/2009
  • Pages: 464
  • Product dimensions: 6.38 (w) x 9.52 (h) x 1.44 (d)

Meet the Author

PETER ACK ROY D's highly acclaimed books include Thames: The Biography and London: The Biography.

GEOFREY CHAUCER (c. 1343- 1400) was an English author, poet, philosopher, courtier, and diplomat who also wrote Troilus and Criseyde, considered by many to be the first modern English novel.

Customer Reviews
Average Rating 3.5
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  • Anonymous

    Posted December 26, 2009

    e-book review only; caution for ease of use

    Hanning's edition is marvelous in standard paper formatting. My review is for the electronic edition formatted for the Nook, however, which is extraordinarily poorly done--hence the detracted stars. 5 stars for content; 1 star for formatting.

    The electronic version has no line numbers, which is a problem. The translation is advertised as "facing page," but in fact it's just haphazardly lumped into the original Middle English with no warning and no formatting changes whatsoever. You'll be reading along in Middle English and suddenly find yourself reading the same thing all over again in Modern English, and there's nothing you can do about it. So basically only someone really familiar with the Canterbury Tales will be able to use this electronic format, and anyone else should stay away.

    It's a shame, because I'd really like to have access to this one on my Nook.

    21 out of 23 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted August 13, 2010

    Ebook is unreadable--there is no such thing as a facing page ebook.

    The Barnes & Noble Classics Series edition of The Canterbury Tales has Chaucer's original text on one page and a modern translation on the facing page. This works wonderfully well in print books for obvious reasons. This does *not* work for ebooks.

    Reading this book on the nook you will read through a page or two of the original text, then on the next page turn you'll have the modernized translation, then back to the original again. It is not simply a matter of Chaucer's version being in one chapter, followed by a chapter in translation; in fact, Chaucer's version and the translation are interspersed together so that there is NO WAY of choosing to read one or the other without having to manually click forward watching to see when the language changes to Chaucer's language. Because of this, the book is simply unreadable.

    Go find a public domain version of Chaucer's text and take the effort to get a feel for his language.

    13 out of 13 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted October 9, 2008

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    I Also Recommend:

    A fantastic translation of a classic

    I got an advance copy of this and have read the first few tales -- what an amazing translation. It's accessible and will be perfect for classroom studies or just catching up on a classic.

    6 out of 7 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted June 15, 2009

    more from this reviewer

    A Worthwhile Journey

    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.

    So what do you say in a brief review of The Canterbury Tales?

    To start with, I would suggest you try reading it in the original Middle English. The language/spelling/pronunciation can be a problem, so be sure you get an edition that's glossed (unless you're proficient in Middle English). During the semester, I found a "children's" edition of the tales at my local library. It included Modern English "translations" of a couple of the tales along with some illustrations. It was kind of fun to read, but it lost some of the rhythm and drive of the tales by having them in a modern format.

    The writing is fun and clever (once you get through the 'translation' issues with the Middle English). For a common reference, it's like reading Shakespeare, only more archaic by a couple hundred years. The language of the narrative varies depending on the narrator of the particular prologue/tale, but with Chaucer at the helm behind the scenes, the writing is generally very good, descriptive, layered, humorous, inspiring, etc. (except for when he's trying to illustrate 'bad writing', and then it's good in that it's so bad).

    The messages presented are widely varied as well. The Knight's Tale was an intriguing tale of romance and chivalry with lots of courtly intrigue...but at times it felt a little dry. The Miller and the Reeve were hilarious tales and introduced me to a new (to me) genre in the fabliau. The Wife of Bath had an interesting prologue and a fun tale, again with a semi-romantic style and an interesting moral. The Nun's Priest gave us a fun little animal fable. The Prioress presented a strange little tale about miracles or anti-semitism or devout love or something else?

    Overall, I would definitely recommend having a copy of The Canterbury Tales on your shelf. Some tales are easier to read than others. Some tales are more fun while others are more thought provoking (as stated in one of the prologues, a tale has one of two purposes, to educate or to entertain...and there are examples of each). Once you get your teeth into the language (probably the biggest hurdle) I suspect you'll enjoy these.

    5 out of 6 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted December 3, 2008

    Great Chaucer literature.

    I read this book in my senior year of high school, quite honestly this book would go right over most people's heads(including me at first). The book was written in the 14th century so its understandable that the book's concepts are hard to grasp.But all an all I actually like the Canterbury tales once I re-read them and understood it better. This book takes time to really understand, however some people might right away but you should give it a chance, if you really want to read up on some great 14 century literature.

    4 out of 6 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted March 28, 2008

    A classic tale for years to come!

    This was one of the best books I ever read. I love that not only is the book presented in the original middle English, but also in translated modern English that I can understand. I was really blown away by the text and how expressive and beautiful it was. It is quite an undertaking, but it will pay off.

    4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted May 26, 2009

    No More Trauma

    Great Translation = Forget your English class scars.

    3 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted June 15, 2009

    Good Presentation - So-So Translation

    I love having the original Middle English on one side with a Modern English Translation on the facing page. I decided to try reading the Middle English. It's easy to look over to the translation whenever I get stuck. However, even without being able to completely understand the Middle English, I can tell the translation isn't that great. Also, the text is only footnoted on the Modern English side, which (if you're trying to follow the Middle English text) makes it easy to miss. Still, it's a lot more fun to read this on your own when you don't have a high school English teacher forcing you to do it.

    2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted May 21, 2009

    more from this reviewer

    Fascinating

    As someone who's always been interested in England, mythology, and a lot of other things, this book is paradise!! The premise is simple: a group of pilgrims are on the way to the shrine of St. Thomas Beckett in Canterbuty (hence the name). At the Tabard Inn, the host suggests that they each tell two stories on the way there, and two on the way back. They readily agree. The group is comprised of people representing various social positions (knight, reeve, nun, friar, miller, etc) and so the stories are widely varied. And the best part is that the language is easy! It's not the difficult 14th century that we Generation X think it is. Yes, buy the book.

    2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 12, 2001

    Delightful to Hear in the Recorded Books Edition

    This version will appeal most to those who have read and studied The Canterbury Tales and enjoyed them. The Canterbury Tales are best heard aloud. With commentary by Professor Murphy and talented actors, the various tales come appealingly alive. Chaucer¿s Middle English has its archaic words explained, and leaves the beauty of the meter and rhymes intact. The tales explore primarily relations between men and women, people and God, and consistently challenge hypocrisy. The tales also exemplify all the major story forms in use during the Middle Ages. The book¿s structure is unbelievable subtle and complex, providing the opportunity to peel the onion down to its core, one layer at a time. Modern anthologies look awfully weak by comparison. Although the material is old, the ideas are not. You will also be impressed by how much closer God was to the lives of these people than He is today. The renunciation at the end comes as a mighty jolt, as a result. My favorites are by the miller, wife of Bath, pardoner, and nun¿s priest. Where do you see the opportunity to give and share spiritual and worldly love? How can you give and receive more love? Donald Mitchell, co-author of The Irresistible Growth Enterprise and The 2,000 Percent Solution

    2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted April 6, 2011

    not formatted for Nook

    I should have heeded the other review I read that said that the book does not work on the Nook. In paper form the book was supposed to have both the original on one page and the modern form on the right. They end up alternating on the nook. I figured I would just read the original, sort of like reading a real long Jabberwocky. At first there were clear breaks between the original and the modern, but after a few pages I found they ran together, making the book even more difficult to read. At that point I gave up. I'll read it on paper.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted January 21, 2012

    Ok...

    The tales were ok, but they stereotyoed lots of people.

    0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted December 18, 2011

    Great book

    Tom sawyer adventures arent as good as the adventures of huck fin

    0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted December 17, 2011

    Stupid book

    Boring

    0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted October 5, 2011

    highly recommend - a classic for all time

    Chaucer is unforgettable in these tales which show a myriad of humanity

    0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted September 26, 2011

    Too long!?!!

    I really had to laugh when I read the review ( Lauren's?) that said the individual tales were "too long." People need to get some perspective. Back in those days there was no TV, no computers, no video games not even a Nook. Many of the poems were looonng--think Dante'sInferno! People didn't have all the time wasters that we do. Plus these things were not purely recreational--time was too important so there was a moral also. Think of it as a different culture-- because it was!

    0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted August 17, 2011

    more from this reviewer

    Great Edition

    If you don't like the rhymes its unfortunate but it brings a nice flavor to the Canterbury tales

    0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted June 15, 2011

    Don't bother with the sample.

    I love the Canterbury Tales - and read the middle english version in college. I thought this book would be neat to read and see if it held up to my imagined telling.
    I downloaded the Sample for my Nook Color - the only problem is that the sample isn't nearly long enough. 12 pages. It doesn't even get you through the introduction. I was curious to see the content before I bought the book, but I wasn't able to see any. So, if you are thinkning of doing to same - don't waste your time.

    0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted April 26, 2011

    barns and noble fail at multi-version works!

    there are so many publications of this book in so many formats and translations that the b&n strategy of compositing data from all publications of the same name makes the site totally useless with regard to this kind of book. is it a side by side translation, annotated, something else? who knows. is it the translation by Hastings, Raffel, Wright, Ecker & Crook, Reeve & Shipman, or some one else? who knows!? they're all referenced! is it the complete tales or a selection of a few? it could be either according to the information presented by this site! b&n need to fix this bad.

    0 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted February 28, 2011

    loved it!!!!

    i loved it when i was in highschool and i love it now :) chaucer does a great job in hiding morals within his stories and you can tell who he likes to write about and who he doesnt. i dont care what others say. you have to read all of the stories. its a great read and i highly recomend it.

    0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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