The Canterbury Tales: A Selection

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A selection of the most popular, and most studied, of The Canterbury Tales, translated by Colin Wilcockson, and with facing-page original Middle-English text This selection of the best-loved and most frequently studied of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales provides a fascinating introduction to one of the great cornerstones of English literature. The General Prologue gives vivid character sketches of the colourful band of pilgrims who gather at a London inn on their way to Canterbury, while the nine tales chosen range from the noble Knight's story of rivalry in love to the boastful Pardoner's moral treatise, from the exuberant Wife of Bath's Arthurian legend to the Miller's worldly, ribald farce. Incorporating every style of Medieval narrative - bawdy anecdote, allegorical fable and courtly romance - the tales brought together here encompass the blend of universal human themes and individual personal detail that have fascinated readers for over 600 years. For this selection the original fourteenth-century Middle English is presented with a facing-page modern prose translation. This volume also contains a chronology, further reading and an introduction examining Chaucer's life and work and the literary influences on the Tales. Translated and edited with an introduction by Colin Wilcockson

Reviews

A delight . . . [Raffels translation] provides more opportunities to savor the counterpoint of Chaucers 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. Raffels translation makes the stories even more inviting.Wall Street Journal

Author Bio

Geoffrey Chaucer (c.1343-1400) was an English author, poet, philosopher, bureaucrat courtier and diplomat. Sometimes called the father of English literature, Chaucer is credited by some scholars as being the first author to demonstrate the artistic legitimacy of the vernacular English language, rather than French or Latin. He wrote many works but is best know for The Canterbury Tales. Colin Wilcockson was educated at Chigwell School and Merton College, Oxford, where he read English Language and Literature. In 1973, he was elected to a Fellowship at Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he was for many years Director of Studies in English and in Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic. He has published books, articles and reviews mainly on Medieval and Renaissance literature (he is one of the editors of The Riverside Chaucer), and on the twentieth-century Anglo-Welsh poet and artist, David Jones. He also publishes poetry. He is now an Emeritus Fellow of Pembroke College.