Reading The Canterbury Tales and looking for someone to discuss

[Lemonade]

Tonight I'll start reading TCT and I'm looking for someone to discuss it with.
I'm reading the Peter Ackroyd retelling, as it was the only one my library had available.

Hope to hear from somebody!

[Lokasenna]

Might I suggest you ditch the 'retelling' and go with Chaucer in the original? His particular brand of Middle English is very easy to understand (it only takes a little bit of practice to get the knack of it), and you'll get so much more of a sense of his feel for language if you actually read his text...

[mal4mac]

It may be easy to understand if you are a postgraduate researcher in medieval English literature at Cambridge, but others might have trouble.

Ackroyd's retelling had great reviews when it came out in Britain, enough to persuade me to read it, and I greatly enjoyed it. You lose the poetry of course, a significant loss, but the story & characters are superb, and Ackroyd is master of *modern* English.

Harold Bloom is a robust defender of the canon, so I thought he would be highly negative about such a retelling, but he praises Ackroyd:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/books/review/Bloom-t.html?_r=0

"Though many of us (Peter Ackroyd included) greatly would prefer common readers to learn just enough Middle English to begin enjoying Chaucer’s poetry in the original, that evades the way things are and the way they are going to be. Retelling Chaucer in our contemporary prose necessarily is a great loss, yet so rich is Chaucer that enormous value remains in Ackroyd’s robust versions of “The Canterbury Tales.”"

I'm a common reader who tends to draw the line at Shakespeare when it comes to "surface difficulty", and in my first try I gave up on the original, very quickly, due to its difficulty & my lack of motivation. I didn't have to pass a course in it, so I passed on it. Having read Ackroyd, I feel I should perhaps have persevered, the stories & characters are consistently robust, funny and profound. Like me, you might feel more inclined to read the original if you read Ackroyd.

I guess it comes down to where you are as a reader. If you've read a lot of Shakespeare, read medieval versification with aplomb, believe canonical estimations, and have great motivation to read Chaucer, then it may be worth going immediately to the original. Or maybe you want, or are ready for, a "great challenge", and are not looking for easy "surface enjoyment" from the next piece of literature you tackle. Again, worth going to the original.

In any case, you can read Ackroyd as quickly and easily as a modern light novel, you have it "in hand", so why not read it? I couldn't think of a better introduction, and it stands up as an enjoyable piece of literature in itself. At the very least you'll have fun, learn something, and gain some motivation to read the original. What more could you want?

There is particular hope for you, in particular, Lemonade, as one reviewer writes: "I took a class in Middle English in college, and quickly realized that it was about as comprehensible as Dutch." :)

[mona amon]

I've only read the prologue so far, and the oldest thing I've read other than this is probably the KJV Bible, but I have to agree with Loka. It sounds so great I feel it is worth the trouble of reading in the original, with notes to help. Now Beowulf is incomprehensible, but this is recognizable English, once you get the hang of it.

[Lemonade]

I would love to read the origonal, but my, very small, public library only had this edition and I can't afford to buy a book now. As I usually read at work, I need a paper copy and the only one available is the Ackroyd edition.
Thanks for the advice though!

[Lokasenna]

I would love to read the origonal, but my, very small, public library only had this edition and I can't afford to buy a book now. As I usually read at work, I need a paper copy and the only one available is the Ackroyd edition.
Thanks for the advice though!

Fair enough! Do, however, at least have a look at just a bit of the original - online copies are common, and wikisource is a particularly easy thing to access.

I hope you enjoy it - such a superb work. Are you going to work your way through in order, or are there particular tales that you intend to seek out first?

[kiki1982]

I beg to differ on the re-telling part and on drawing the line at Shakespeare.
Chaucer is much easier to me than Shakespeare, because he writes less poetically and in the right order. He is not so lyrical because his era dictates that. Although to be fair I know French and German as well as English, which may help a little. Shakespeare's English is more modern in an absolute sense because he lived later than Chaucer (who uses more Germanic and French roots), but his language is sometimes more difficult and unwieldy than Chaucer. Chaucer is more straightforward because his work was to read out loud and because it was not supposed to be a feet of poetry at all.

By comparison, the Nibelungenlied, is not-understandable. To a non-exercised ear, that will sound not understandable, and Chaucer is a mile away from that, easy. And still, if you practice and practice and practice, you'll get the hang of it, because ultimately, it's a language you know (or it's your own). However, Chaucer doesn't even need any practice.

But if nothing else is available then anything is better than nothing. Although the Penguin anotated selection was good to read.
I'm sure there must be a version on Gutenberg...

Good luck, though :).

[mal4mac]

Check the poetry section of your library for anthologies of poetry, they often have chunks of Chaucer. For instance, Harold Bloom's "The Best Poems of the English Language: From Chaucer Through Robert Frost" has a large (annotated!) chunk of the Canterbury Tales.

[Lemonade]

I did look for it in my library but they have about 100 books in English, mostly Shakespeare, which I have at home and modern chiclits.
I'm reading the whole book, and enjoying it so far, I've just read the Reeve's tale and thought it very funny.

I know about the freely available versions on the internet, and will surely read them, but I wanted to read something in the quiet hours at work and decided to read TCT.
I've studied OE and ME a little and agree with it not being hard to understand, I've tried to find Beowulf, but the same goes as for TCT, my library doesn't own a decent copy.

I feel quite at lose with this poorly stocked library, I used to have access to the largest library in the Netherlands but I moved to the countryside a few months ago.

[PeterL]

You certainly should read the original, and it is available online.
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/22120/22120-h/22120-h.htm
The language looks difficult, and it is at first, but it becomes eay, if one consideres the sounds and relates it to other medieval texts, such as The Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, which is close in time much easier to read.

[Lemonade]

You certainly should read the original, and it is available online.
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/22120/22120-h/22120-h.htm
The language looks difficult, and it is at first, but it becomes eay, if one consideres the sounds and relates it to other medieval texts, such as The Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, which is close in time much easier to read.

I know how to read OE and ME, thank you for the link. I'll read it, not now, but soon.

[mona amon]

I know how to read OE and ME

Hee hee, you should have mentioned that in your opening post, and all of us bright sparks wouldn't have tried to tell you how easy it is!

Anyway, I'm planning to read it, starting today, so I'd love to discuss it with you and others. :)

[PeterL]

I know how to read OE and ME, thank you for the link. I'll read it, not now, but soon.

I agree with Mona amon. You gave the impression that you didn't read ME, and that makes a difference. But there anyone who reads Modern English can learn to read Middle English within a few days.

[astrum]

I've only read the prologue so far, and the oldest thing I've read other than this is probably the KJV Bible, but I have to agree with Loka. It sounds so great I feel it is worth the trouble of reading in the original, with notes to help. Now Beowulf is incomprehensible, but this is recognizable English, once you get the hang of it.

Isn't Beowulf written in another language?

[SilvanDitties]

Isn't Beowulf written in another language?

It's written in Old English, mostly incomprehensible to modern English speakers without proper study.