The Canterbury Tales: A Prose Version in Modern English (Vintage Classics)

Geoffrey Chaucer, David Wright (Translated by)

$11.00

Publication Date: July 12th, 2011

Publisher:

Vintage

ISBN:

9780307743534

Pages:

352

Charter Books

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Description

A clear modern prose translation of Chaucer’s masterpiece of Middle English storytelling by the acclaimed poet David Wright.

The Canterbury Tales has entertained readers for centuries, with its comic animal fables, moral allegories, miniature epics of courtly love, and rollicking erotic farces that bring fourteenth-century England to life on every page. The gloriously varied stories, narrated by a group of pilgrims on their way to Canterbury, are peopled with saints, sinners, and ordinary mortals in a vivid panorama of the medieval world. This prose translation renders these tales as accessible and irresistible to modern readers as they were to Chaucer’s contemporaries.

About the Author

GEOFFREY CHAUCER (1343–1400) was England’s most famous medieval poet and writer, sometimes called the father of English literature.

DAVID WRIGHT (1920–1994) was born in South Africa and died in England. He was a poet who drew inspiration from Beowulf and The Canterbury Tales, both of which he translated into modern English.

Praise for The Canterbury Tales: A Prose Version in Modern English (Vintage Classics)

“A delight . . . [Raffel’s translation] provides more opportunities to savor the counterpoint of Chaucer’s earthy humor against passages of piercingly beautiful lyric poetry.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Masterly . . . This new translation beckons us to make our own pilgrimage back to the very wellsprings of literature in our language.” —Billy Collins

“The Canterbury Tales has remained popular for seven centuries. It is the most approachable masterpiece of the medieval world, and Mr. Raffel’s translation makes the stories even more inviting.”—Wall Street Journal