The Canterbury Tales: A Retelling [Hardcover]

Peter Ackroyd (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 29, 2009

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.

@AprilFools Oh and the Wyfe of Bathe. Talk about a woman who likes to be perced to the roote.

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

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.)
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About the Author

Peter Ackroyd is an award-winning novelist, critic, and biographer.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Hardcover: 464 pages
• Publisher: Viking Adult (October 29, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670021229
• ISBN-13: 978-0670021222
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #390,744 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

62 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Gem, Just in Time for the Holidays, November 13, 2009

By 

L. Scharf (Homer, AK USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Canterbury Tales: A Retelling (Hardcover)

When I first heard about this, I was a bit skeptical, not to mention feeling a bit of an intellectual snob remembering the hours we spent learning, decoding, memorizing, and translating the original Tales back in school. But I couldn't resist taking a peep under the cover and was immediately seduced. Ackroyd's language perfectly captures the tone of each tale, and the characters leap from the pages as their stories unfold. I expect it is now only a matter of time before it's adapted for the screen; we can only hope HBO or Showtime get a hold of it first and spare us squirming through Keanu Reeves as the Pardoner or Carmen Electra as the Wife of Bath. In any case, give this book a chance, and stuff it in the stocking of anyone who claims to love literature. Just don't expect to see them until they've turned the last page.

36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A workable translation of a classic, and easy to read aloud, January 3, 2010

By 

Robert C. Ross (New Jersey) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Canterbury Tales: A Retelling (Hardcover)

I studied "The Canterbury Tales" for several weeks in college many years ago, and from time to time re-read it -- or tales from it -- with the old pleasure and without the pressure of earning a grade that would keep my scholarship alive. The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale has always been a great favorite -- she seems to epitomize some of the powerful farm women I knew as a child.

This new translation comes at a time when I've been regularly reading aloud to my wife, and we have greatly enjoyed this version -- my Middle English accent is incomprehensible, even to me. My well annotated college Modern Library version of the original and the Coghill translation are always close at hand to deepen our understanding; the Ackroyd version is very easy to read aloud and to understand in modern terms.

Which version you prefer will depend on your own interest and objectives in reading this classic of English literature. These short extracts from the Wife of Bath's Prologue give a flavor of each of my favorite versions:

Chaucer:

"Housbondes at chirche-dore she hadde fyve,

Withouten other companye in youthe ...

In felawschip wel coude she laughe and carpe.

Of remedyes of love she knew perchaunce,

For she coude of that art the olde daunce."

Coghill:

"Five husbands have I had at the church door,
Yes it's a fact I've had so many.
All worthy in their way, as good as any. ...
The gift of laughter and fun was mine.
Love's remedies I know, and not by chance;
I know first hand the art of that old dance.

Ackroyd:

"She had been married in church five times but, in her youth, she had enjoyed any number of liaisons. ... She had performed in that game before. She knew, as they say, the ways of the dance."

The "Times" [of London] discusses why reading this great book has relevance today:

"Chaucer may be said to stand at the head, or source, of the great English tradition. G.K. Chesterton once wrote that he considered it extraordinary "that Chaucer should have been so unmistakably English almost before the existence of England". But it is perhaps not so extraordinary of a poet who seems to define or sum up the English genius, with his personal modesty and broadness of feeling, with his respect for tradition and his inventive diversity. Translating The Canterbury Tales into contemporary English is another way of affirming its centrality and its continuing life. It can be reborn in every generation."

All three versions have their charms, and Chaucer still lives for those that love the English language and good literature.

Robert C. Ross 2010

33 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Translation, November 16, 2009

By 

S. Thomas (Michigan) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Canterbury Tales: A Retelling (Hardcover)

While the Tales don't usually translate well, this is about as good as any could be. Avoiding the painfully flat literalism of most adaptations, Akroyd gives, instead, a real sense of the flavor and tone of the original Middle English.