The Canterbury Tales

4.5 stars

These tales are amazing, and it is really hard to get that they were written so long ago. There is serious, mystery, fabula, romance and more, and Chaucer's languauge, although sometimes a little heavy for these modern times, is beautiful.

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I actually reread this in my copy of the Norton Critical edition, which is very good, with glosses, notes, and a lot of supplementary material. Unfortunately, you can't put two read dates in, so. Here we go.

I decided to reread The Canterbury Tales because a) I've read Troilus and Criseyde twice now, and loved it, and b) I had to look at the Wife of Bath's tale as a Gawain romance. Gawain is always going to be a draw for me, so I settled down to read it. I find it frustrating, in its unfinished and uncertain nature -- which tale responds to which, are we supposed to connect this tale with this part, etc -- but I did enjoy it a lot more this time. The different stories and styles display Chaucer's versatility as a writer, of course, and I found most of them fascinating in their own right. I have a special fondness for the Franklin's Tale, because I studied that and reading it again after some time away (and after earning my degree!) taught me so much more about it.

I still prefer Troilus and Criseyde, and I still wish people could come to artists like Shakespeare and Chaucer in their own time instead of as a chore, as homework. But still! I appreciate The Canterbury Tales a lot more now. ( )

I suppose this is my own Ulysses. Canterbury Tales is certainly one of those books, like Ulysses or Proust or Golden Bowl, that no one's actually read or if they have they hated it or if they didn't they're lying because they think it'll impress you. But I took a whole class on this in college and I had this terrific professor, and she showed me how awesome this is. Really, it's a heap of fun. Are you impressed? ( )

Audiobook.

I was happy finally to read the complete set of stories rather than excerpted tales. It was entertaining to read "The Pardoner's Tale" again after having read "The Tale of the Tree Brothers" in [b:The Tales of Beedle the Bard|3950967|The Tales of Beedle the Bard|J.K. Rowling|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1309666721s/3950967.jpg|3007490]. I'd never have read the long, dry religious sections had I not been listening to an audiobook, and I would merely find them odd had not Tuchman's [b:A Distant Mirror The Calamitous 14th Century|568236|A Distant Mirror The Calamitous 14th Century|Barbara W. Tuchman|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1203173999s/568236.jpg|227267] given me the background and context I needed to understand why Chaucer included them. I now have a strong desire to re-read Calvino's [b:The Castle of Crossed Destinies|59779|The Castle of Crossed Destinies (Vintage Classics)|Italo Calvino|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1206115676s/59779.jpg|58173], and to bump [b:The Decameron|51799|The Decameron|Giovanni Boccaccio|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1309202873s/51799.jpg|1320474] up my list. ( )

Mark Twain said something like: "Classics are books you think you ought to read, but never do."

Well, I am glad I put in the hours to listen to this book, but I cannot say I enjoyed much of it. Partially, it was the narration--some of the accents used were simply impossible--and partially it was boredom that set in when discussing theology that is so far from my own. Still, it is part of the "canon" and as such, it is good to be a bit more literate today than I was yesterday.... ( )