The Canterbury Tales

Roughly 1385 to 1400, this edition 1982
Geoffrey Chaucer
The Canterbury Tales
$2.95
A bit shabby condition but not bad
C


This Bantam Classic edition has just a few tales: The Prologue, The Knight, The Miller, The Wife of Bath, The Merchant, The Franklin, The Pardoner, The Prioress, and the Nun's Priest.  The original Middle English is on the left-hand page, the modern translation on the right.  I mostly read the translation.  While the stories have some nice details and turns of phrase, and I appreciate Chaucer's ability to write in the styles of a diverse group of people, I can't say I was particularly gripped by this reread.  My favorite tale was the Nun's Priest's, because I like the idea of a flock of educated chickens.  The Prioress's Tale would have to be my least favorite, not only because of the anti-Semitism, but because the story (murdered kid keeps singing about the Virgin Mary) doesn't really interest me.  The translation, by A. Kent Hieatt and Constance Hieatt is well done (although they keep euphemizing "queynte" in the many places it occurs), and the tales move along briskly, with the exception of course of The Knight's Tale.  Verdict:  Keep but not reread more than the once a decade I seem to do.