Audiobook16 hours
The Canterbury Tales: A Retelling
Written by Peter Ackroyd and Geoffrey Chaucer
Narrated by Ron Keith, Bianca Amato, Toby Leonard Moore and
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
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About this audiobook
Author Peter Ackroyd has won the Somerset Maugham Award, the Whitbread Novel of the Year, and the Guardian Fiction Prize, and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Based on Geoffrey Chaucer's immortal work, this retelling of The Canterbury Tales follows a party of travelers as they tell stories amongst themselves about love and chivalry, saints and legends, travel and adventure. Through allegory, satire, and humor, the tales help pass the time during their journey.
Author
Peter Ackroyd
Peter Ackroyd is an award-winning novelist, as well as a broadcaster, biographer, poet and historian. He is the author of the acclaimed non-fiction bestsellers, Thames: Sacred River and London: The Biography, as well as the History of England series. He holds a CBE for services to literature and lives in London.
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Reviews for The Canterbury Tales
Rating: 3.688405739130435 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
69 ratings7 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This wasn't quite what I was expecting. From the blurb I had in my head that this would be a modern take on the Canterbury Tales with modern stories. I suppose I was expecting the knight to me, for example, a major in the Army. Not sure that some of the characters of religious persuasion translate as easily, but you could probably inf a charlatan or two or faith healers and the like to fill some of the less savory roles. As it was, it was a loose translation (as opposed to a word for word translation). Once I'd got my head round that as an idea, then it was OK. I've read a translation previously which did retain the poetry structure, while this does not (except for effect). That made it easy to listen to. I'm not sure that it didn't detract form the experience though. It's been a while since I read this, so it was interesting to see what I remembered immediately and what I had no recollection of what so ever. As ever, you can only marvel at the breadth Chaucer's vision and wish that he had actually managed to complete the task.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I haven't read the original so this retelling was accessible. Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales come from a motley group of pilgrims who meet in a London inn on their way to Canterbury. They agree to take part in a storytelling competition to keep them entertained on the way. The stories range from comedy to tragedy, pious sermon to ribald farce, heroic adventure to passionate romance. They also reflect the attitudes of the time, especially towards women. Not really my cup of tea, but I'm glad to have read this retelling.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Peter Ackroyd has undertaken a re-writing of The Canterbury Tales in modern English prose. He has made these stories accessible to the modern reader, thereby giving us a glimpse of life in medieval times -- morals, beliefs, customs and occupations. Some of the stories were great; others less engaging. But I'm glad to have been able to get a taste of the Canterbury Tales.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5To rewrite Chaucer in today's idiom invites disdain from the purists, but for one such as me, whose education omitted both this vital classic, and the linguistic tools that would have given me access to the original, Ackroyd has here done much to fill the gap that I have always known. Of course I cannot more than guess at what might have been left out, but I found the version highly illuminating, and even rather curious concerning the ways in which the modern idiom might have refreshed the original. No doubt those who are better educated, and privileged with the ability to hear clearly the master's intentions might find faults, because Ackroyd's viewpoint must needs be idiosyncratic. But I learned much, and not just from Ackroyd's sweet and stimulating prose. I feel I now have an inkling of why Chaucer's work was so important.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Ackroyd has "translated" Canterbury Tales into modern English and made it readily accessible. I have tried to read CT in the past, the original text is beyond me, and even the examples of side-by-side text haven't really made it possible for me to read cover to cover.The text is good, lively without being too anachronistic. The story is relatively timeless - in spite of the setting of a pilgrimage - the characters come though as analogs of people we could meet any day. Read June 2012
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Rather than "A Retelling," this should be called "A Retailing." Ackroyd is a man of letters. There's not a money in lettering these days. So what do you do to bring home the bacon in a tough economy without having to break a sweat? You take a perennial classic in a "foreign" language, trot out a quick trot, and slap it between two hard covers. Go ahead and drop the boring parts, like "The Parson's Tale;" they just slow you down. Be sure you write it in prose, because "the modern world does not love the long poem." Above all, never apologize. If you feel the need to provide a "note on the text," start with: "There are no laws of translation." If that means Mr. Ackroyd will probably not face jail time, his declaration is true, regrettably.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5As the book jacket accurately states "love, sex, infidelity, villainy, drunkenness, murder..." This is an accessible prose version of Chaucer's verse. It gives a real flavour of medieval life and for medieval thought. Tales with religion throughout but not particularly venerated, mostly focusing on lives lustily lived! Vivid morality tales... Did I enjoy it? Not really, but I’m glad I read it.