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Easy to read , prose re-telling of the classic . Good for beginners , I intend to move to the modern English translation ( verse translation ) after this followed by the original ( Middle English )
Peter Ackroyd's translation makes for quick reading and is easy to understand. I can't comment on the accuracy of the translation as this is the only version of the Canterbury Tales I have read but I can advise that I enjoyed it more for having read Peter Ackroyd's biography of Chaucer just prior, together they are a good series.
I read this retelling side-by-side with the original Canterbury Tales as my first time reading the classic work of English literature. It was a wonderful way to experience the work. Ackroyd does a fabulous job at staying very true to the spirit of each tale while telling it in more modern prose with language and sentence structure that feel more natural to a modern reader. There are some great lines and snappy wit. He really made these characters come to life and made it so I could enjoy the ori...
This is a collection of the best stories ever told by Chauser. He lived from 1343 till 1400 in Lundon England. He was well versed in Latan, French, Italian and English. This book is a translation by Peter Accroyd in modern English so as to make it more accessable to the modern reader. The book describes a mottly crew of pilgrams on there way to Canterberry. They threw in there lot together and decided to play a game. Each one of them must regile the others with a story. There were stories told o...
of the translations I used as a reference point, i enjoyed this one the most despite how intensely liberal it is (not a translations but a "retelling), as its the only one i've seen that holds up on an aesthetic basis--though, i think it's pretty important to remember, the aesthetic is ackroyd's, not chaucer's, and in a lot of ways this is a completely different book
Plot: The Canterbury tales follows a very mixed group of people as they go on a pilgrimage. Each has their own individual stories which they tell as the story progresses. Occasionally being interrupted by annoyed others. I didn’t really know what to expect with the stories but they were all very individual and set to the time period. I thought they were very interesting but I found them quite hard to get into. Characters: One character who famously stood out was the wife of Bath. Her was of stor...
Not sure who this book is for or, rather, who would really get a lot of enjoyment out of it. I’ll admit up front that I’ve never read the Tales in their entirety until now—and I guess I can say I still haven’t since Ackroyd decided to cut the Parson’s Tale because…it’s too boring? At least that’s how I read his flimsy explanation. But if I weren’t already predisposed to dig deeper into a text like this, nothing about this version would compel me to or give me reason to think that doing so would
This is an excellent introduction to the Cantebury Tales. It puts it in prose and in modern day language. I will warn you it does have some profanity but it is replacing the old profanity for the new profanity. Overall, I enjoyed the reading. It was fun to read different tales from different walks of life. I will probably someday pick up a more literal translation.
This is my first time reading Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, so I can’t comment on Peter Ackroyd’s translation. However, the style of the text is easily accessible for a modern audience, written in delightful and humorous prose. Although some of the tales are obviously more captivating than others, they each offer an interesting insight into the different aspects of life in Medieval England.Rating: 3.6/5
"I am tired of stories about patient wives. They do not exist. Take my wife, for instance. Go on. Take her." How much money do you think it would take to have Peter Ackroyd narrate my life?Ackroyd's The Canterbury Tales was one of the most entertaining things I've read all year. Although I will always reread the original over and over, I would easily feel comfortable telling someone unfamiliar with Middle English to start with this rendition. I hadn't read "The Canterbury Tales" in almost ten
this wasn’t amazing but it wasn’t horrible either, pretty average. It’s a collection of tales of morality. Grateful for Ackroyd’s retelling being readable lol, I liked the Knight’s tale and the Monk’s tale.
I took a class in Middle English in college, and quickly realized that it was about as comprehensible as Dutch. Unlike Shakespeare, Middle English has to be translated. Too bad, because what I read of The Canterbury Tales seemed interesting. So when I saw this at the library, a translated retelling of the classic Medieval document, I decided to give it a go. As many people know, it's an anthology of stories told by fellow travelers who are on a pilgrimage to Canterbury. Many of the tales are lew...
God bless you, Peter Ackroyd for making this book very easy to read. It did not lose its original meaning. He only used the words that are familiar to us. Consider this example in the original 14th century English in London:My konnyng is so wayk, O blisful Queene,For to declare thy grete worthynesseThat I ne may the weighte nat susteene;But as a child of twelf month oold, or lesse,That kan unnethes any word expresse,Right so fare I, and therfored I yow preye,Gydeth my song that I shal of youw se...
Had my copy of The Canterbury Tales: A Retelling had this cover instead of the elegant dark blue and white jacket from the Viking 2009 edition, I might have known what to expect--and lowered my expectations accordingly.I do try to keep an open mind as a reader and I recognize that there is room for popularizations, but quite honestly I do not know what Peter Ackroyd was trying to accomplish here. I will grant you that it reads quickly and easily and it has its amusing moments, so perhaps that mi...
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 the operative word.Yours, I finished. It's wonderful.In part, this must due to the fact that you are a poet. Y...
Wow! Peter Ackroyd has made it possible for a great-literature bumpkin like me to experience the gist of Chaucer's most well-known work, perhaps the best-known middle-English literature. The author has translated into modern English this ancient set of stories recorded by Geoffrey Chaucer in the late 14th century.Although I am certain not all of Chaucer's original nuances come through in this modern translation, it enables the average reader to hear the stories that a fictitious group of pilgrim...
Since I didn’t have to learn French to read “Madame Bovary” or Russian to read “War and Peace” I’ve always wondered why academics think we should only read the Canterbury Tales in the original Middle English with its archaic words and cryptic spelling. Most of us have slogged through a page or two of that and given up. Enter Peter Ackroyd with a wonderful prose translation into contemporary English of Chaucer’s most famous work. I’ve always wanted to know why this book so famous; it sounds so ve...
What a riot! A brilliant retelling by Peter ackroyd. The original in middle English is a bit hard to read so modern English "translations" are awesome and this particular book is on point. Asses, farts, profanity, religiosity, chivalry - all these are part of the Canterbury tales. If you've ever felt daunted by the very fact that this is a work of middle English, fret not. This version is highly readable and unputdownable.
I set out to read this because I like this author and thought his re-telling in prose might be a good way to approach Chaucer. I read the clerk's tale, part of the intro, the knight's tale (only because it was first), the wife of Bath, and gave up. Just not in the mood, I guess. Maybe some day I will go all studious and learn to read the original. But not right now.
According to many of the able reviewers, there is a problem with translation here, which things emphasized and which not. An overuse of the word "f-ck." I suppose that is inevitable with an undertaking of the kind. For me as a Chaucer layman we have here a fresh, updated take that I found incredibly valuable for accessibility. Not perfect, but well done all the same.