The Canterbury Tales
Author(s): Geoffrey Chaucer
One of the greatest and most ambitious works in English literature, The Canterbury Tales depicts a storytelling competition between pilgrims drawn from all ranks of society.
The tales are as various as the pilgrims themselves, encompassing comedy, pathos, tragedy, and cynicism. The Miller and the Reeve express their mutual antagonism in a pair of comic stories combining sex and trickery; in “The Shipman's Tale,” a wife sells her favors to a monk. Others draw on courtly romance and fantasy: the Knight tells of rivals competing for the love of the same woman, and the Squire describes a princess who can speak to birds. In these twenty-four tales, Chaucer displays a dazzling range of literary styles and conjures up a wonderfully vivid picture of medieval life.
- Freshly established Middle English text with standardized spelling and punctuation and on-page glossing
- Features an introduction, a chronology of Chaucer's life and works, detailed explanatory notes, suggestions for further reading, a full glossary, and a bibliography
- Companion to the Penguin Classics original-spelling edition of Troilus and Criseyde
General Information
- :
- : Penguin UK
- : Penguin
- : 0.894
- : 01 April 2005
- : 198mm X 129mm X 56mm
- : books
Other Specifications
- : Geoffrey Chaucer
- : Paperback
- : en
- : 821.1
More About The Product
Born in London to a wine merchant, Geoffrey Chaucer (c1340-1400) became a royal servant and travelled as a diplomat to France, Spain and Italy. As well as being famed for his translations, his own work includes Troilus and Criseyde, The Book of the Duchess and The Legend of Good Women. Jill Mann has been Professor Medieval & Renaissance English at Cambridge University, and most recently Notre Dame Professor of English. She is the author Feminizing Chaucer (2002), and co-editor (with Piero Boitani) of The Cambridge Companion to Chaucer (2nd edn. 2003). Jill Mann has been Professor Medieval & Renaissance English at Cambridge University, and most recently she was Notre Dame Professor of English. She is the author Feminizing Chaucer (2002), and co-editor (with Piero Boitani) of The Cambridge Companion to Chaucer (2nd edn. 2003).