The Selected Canterbury Tales: A New Verse Translation

by Geoffrey Chaucer, Sheila Fisher (Translator)

Overview

"A truly remarkable achievement." —Barry Unsworth

In the tradition of Seamus Heaney’s Beowulf and Marie Borroff’s Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Sheila Fisher’s The Selected Canterbury Tales is a vivid, lively, and readable translation of the most famous work of England’s premier medieval poet. Preserving Chaucer’s rhyme and meter, Fisher makes these tales accessible to a contemporary ear while inviting readers to the Middle English original on facing pages. Her informative introduction highlights Chaucer’s artistic originality in his memorable portrayals of surprisingly modern women and men from across the spectrum of medieval society.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393341782
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	04/09/2012
Pages:	800
Sales rank:	945,941
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.70(d)

About the Author

Sheila Fisher is Professor of English at Trinity College (Hartford). She is the author of Chaucer’s Poetic Alchemy: A Study of Value and Its Transformation in The Canterbury Tales, and the editor (with Janet E. Halley) of Seeking the Woman in Late Medieval and Renaissance Writings: Essays in Feminist Contextual Criticism, as well as essays on the Gawain-poet, Julian of Norwich, and Margery Kempe.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction and Background xv

A Chaucerian Lexicon xlvii

The General Prologue 3

The Knight's Tale 61

The Miller's Prologue a Tale 195

The Reeve's Prologue and Tale 243

The Cook's Prologue and Tale 275

The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale 285

The Clerk's Prologue and Tale 367

The Merchant's Prologue and Tale 457

The Franklin's Prologue and Tale 535

The Pardoner's Prologue and Tale 591

The Prioress's Prologue and Tale 637

The Prologue and Tale of Sir Thopas and The Prologue to the Tale of Melibee 657

The Nun's Priest's Prologue and Tale 681

The Parson's Prologue and Chaucer's Retraction 727

Suggestions for Further Reading 737

Editorial Reviews

"In setting the scene for an informed understanding of Chaucer and his background, Fisher shows herself a true professional."

New Republic - Peter Green

"Shelia Fisher's vibrant new verse translation captures in contemporary English the rhymes, the rhythms, the wit, the earnestness, and the game of the best-known Canterbury Tales."

Warren Ginsberg

Chaucer's old saw has been terrorizing students seemingly forever, and it gets a new verse translation here by Trinity College professor Fisher. Her jazzier update is on the right-hand page, while Chaucer's original script is on the left. More for the academics; the price is doable. — Mike Rogers, "Classic Returns," Booksmack! 1/6/11

Library Journal - BookSmack!