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A review by jeffhall
The Canterbury Tales: A Retelling by Peter Ackroyd (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) by Geoffrey Chaucer
3.0
Peter Ackroyd's prose version of The Canterbury Tales takes quite a few liberties with the source text, and thus the subtitle "A Retelling" is well-earned. And yet he does a good job of blending the Middle Ages with the modern, updating Chaucer's diction without sacrificing the alternately holy and bawdy elements which are the core of the original work.
Having now read Ackroyd's retelling, I'm eager to revisit one of the more standard Modern English translations, and the fact that Ackroyd's text has pushed me in that direction is the final proof that his version has its own particular value.
Having now read Ackroyd's retelling, I'm eager to revisit one of the more standard Modern English translations, and the fact that Ackroyd's text has pushed me in that direction is the final proof that his version has its own particular value.