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MJ Nicholls's Reviews > The Canterbury Tales
The Canterbury Tales
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MJ Nicholls's review
bookshelves: penguin-classics, pre-1900s, sassysassenachs, short-stories, poems
Jun 19, 2013
bookshelves: penguin-classics, pre-1900s, sassysassenachs, short-stories, poems
When confronted with the painful choice of whether or not to read Chaucer in the original Middle English, I agonised for precisely four seconds and decided to read Nevill Coghill’s modern translation in lovely Penguin paperback. In the same way I wouldn’t learn German to read Goethe, or unlearn English to read Dan Brown, I refuse to learn archaic forms of English for pointless swotty scholar-points, and grope instead for selfish readerly pleasure, two-fingering the purists and bunking down with Mr. Nevill for nights of sumptuous moral homily, proto-feminist romantic comedy, and high courtly drama. For Chaucer neophytes like me, this text captures the bouncy humour and devilish cleverness of the original (not that I would know!), and hopefully will turn a generation of frightened and unenlightened readers on to this master of verse. (And if you must know, my rhyming homage review was lost due to a power failure and a more tempting invitation to eat pilaf rice with Brian. Street children! Wives of Bath! Go forth and Chaucerize!)
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Reading Progress
June 19, 2013
–
Started Reading
June 19, 2013
– Shelved
June 21, 2013
–
57.14%
"“Now by St Helen and the Holy Land
I wish I had your ballocks in my hand
Instead of relics in a reliquarium;
Have them cut off and I will help to carry ‘em.
We’ll have them shrined for you in a hog’s turd.”"
page
288
I wish I had your ballocks in my hand
Instead of relics in a reliquarium;
Have them cut off and I will help to carry ‘em.
We’ll have them shrined for you in a hog’s turd.”"
June 22, 2013
–
99.21%
"“He is a slave to any that has heard
Him tell a tale, he’ll suffer for that word.
My son, be cautious, fashion nothing new
By way of tidings, whether false or true;
Wherever you may be, with high or low,
Refrain your tongue and think upon the crow.”"
page
500
Him tell a tale, he’ll suffer for that word.
My son, be cautious, fashion nothing new
By way of tidings, whether false or true;
Wherever you may be, with high or low,
Refrain your tongue and think upon the crow.”"
June 22, 2013
– Shelved as:
penguin-classics
June 22, 2013
– Shelved as:
pre-1900s
June 22, 2013
– Shelved as:
short-stories
June 22, 2013
– Shelved as:
sassysassenachs
June 22, 2013
– Shelved as:
poems
June 22, 2013
–
Finished Reading
Comments Showing 1-17 of 17 (17 new)
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Yolande
(new)
Jun 19, 2013 11:04AM
Chaucer!!!
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You, my dear, are entirely too funny.
I found the introduction interesting and the first tale set in Ancient Greece readable. After that, I was reading the words, understanding them, but forgetting what I had just read! By the middle, I was just going through the motions and by the end, I was losing the will to live. God it was heavy. This one is for academics only I think.
Pull out his eyes,Chaucerize,
Chaucerize,
Pull out his eyes.
I read it in Modern English in high school (minus "The Parson's Tale"), and then I read it in Middle English as an adult. It did not take very long to get into the swing of the Middle English (in it's entirety). Reading it in the original language took a little work at first, but after a while it became almost effortless, and the older English added to the flavor of the book. Obsolete words are glossed in most editions, which helps tremendously.
^ I trust you're right, but to re-read it in middle english now would be an exercise in scoring intellectual points and racking up bragging rights, and I'm trying to be more popular in life, so I may wait.
If you read it in modern English and don't go through the relatively painless effort of learning Middle English spelling, pronunciation, and basic vocabulary, you miss the full effect of the poetry of Chaucer's words. It's like going with No Fear Shakespeare or a translation of a poem in a language you can read. You miss out on the poetry. The same can be said of Goethe and Dante. It is totally worth learning the language to enjoy the works.
Chaucer's work can be best read using Lumiansky's "smooth translation".
Well, I am a foreign speaker of English and I fins it effortless to read it in Middle English. Of course, without the footnotes and explanatory notes I would be lost somehow. Signet version of the book flows smoothly and it provides with a solid background of Middle English pronunciation and the meanings of the Middle English basic words. But tbh, the first take is superior and prestigious truly, the three tales after the knight's are all about rabildary and vulgarity in words and deeds!!! I wouldn't expect a medieval text would be that explicit.
Dan Brown doesn't use English?
“Unlearn English to read Dan Brown.” 😂 Following!
As a medievalist I find it hilarious when people like Amateur-Reader are shocked that medieval texts can be explicit, as if people were boring prudes simply because they lived 700 years ago. One could make the argument that most literate people were clergy, but they're still people. Spoiler alert: we as a species haven't changed much. If Roman graffiti weren't in Latin, you wouldn't be able to tell it wasn't some modern delinquent scrawling their thoughts in an alleyway.Anyways, I for one am glad to see people experiencing the text in a way that lets them enjoy it instead of sucking all the joy out of the experience because they think they're beholden to doing it the "right" way. (I'm also always happy to see a clever dig at Dan Brown.) If anybody else reading this is holding out on Chaucer or Beowulf or the like because they feel that anything but the original is anathema: don't! Just read the thing! As long as you do your homework on translations, there is absolutely nothing wrong with them if the alternative is never reading the thing at all.
Loooool, “unlearn English”…love it
I read it and I have to say I was totally and lost! I read a version with no introduction or forward, so did not have any preparation for it. I do want to read it again but I want to read a version written by a scholar of Chaucer and who writes a good introduction. Any suggestions?
Jeanne, I'd recommend this edition, the 2003 Penguin Classics translation by Nevill Coghill. Comprehensively intro'ed and annotated.
Great and funny review! In my opinion though, the original language is not as difficult as to warrant scholar-points, really, just a little getting used too. Worth checking out once you're done with the Coghill translation. I'll try Coghill next!
