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A review by alanyoung
The Canterbury Tales: A Retelling by Geoffrey Chaucer, Peter Ackroyd
5.0
I first encountered The Canterbury Tales when, for O-level Eng. Lit., we studied The Prologue in Middle English. Some time later I read it is verse translation.
This contemporary version has been a revelation.
Ackroyd has decided to forfeit the poetry and, it seems to me, reproduce the impact. In the principles of dynamic equivalence he seems to be seeking to elicit the modern reader the same reactions that Chaucer's contemporaries would have had.
There is found in these pages a structure that has its own charm, a critique/mocking of corruption (especially directed at the church of the time), a glimpse into the different strata of society, word-based and slapstick humour, some very raunchy passages from the Wife of Bath, some crude stories and a liberal sprinkling of four-letter words.
Overall a fun read to be re-visted again.
This contemporary version has been a revelation.
Ackroyd has decided to forfeit the poetry and, it seems to me, reproduce the impact. In the principles of dynamic equivalence he seems to be seeking to elicit the modern reader the same reactions that Chaucer's contemporaries would have had.
There is found in these pages a structure that has its own charm, a critique/mocking of corruption (especially directed at the church of the time), a glimpse into the different strata of society, word-based and slapstick humour, some very raunchy passages from the Wife of Bath, some crude stories and a liberal sprinkling of four-letter words.
Overall a fun read to be re-visted again.