Chaucer Books

I've long wanted to read The Canterbury Tales but it's a daunting task to get through the print version. Listening to a narration makes it far more accessible. I tried a different audio version and gave up part way through the first tape -- the reader was awful! It took a while to track down this version, which is far far superior.

The narrators are among the best in the business (any regular audio book listener will recognize the names of the readers, George Guidall, Davina Porter, Barbara Rosenblat, et al). The enliven the book and make it quite easy to understand (well, relatively so!)

Best of all, each tale is preceded by an explanatory introduction that helps to explain the story to come, and adds a few interesting bits of background that enhance the experience.

If you are ever tempted to read this famed work, this is the way to go!

If you, reader, are willing to put a little time---not that much, really---this is your "Canterbury Tales." The editors have kept most of the Middle English, with modern typography and some modern spellings, and have put the glossary, those needed words, to the side of the line of verse. I found this helpful. I could reach the Middle English and glance to the margin for help here and there. The introduction has help on pronunciation. In the end, I was reading aloud to myself in middle English and found the text no more slow-going than other English-language poetry, easier to reach and understand than John Donne.

I discovered that the work is, in Middle English, funnier than the translations let on. The rhymes themselves are humorous. The poem also is earthier than the translators suggest. Why don't you memorize and recite the opening in Middle English. Amaze your friends. Be the life of the party. Come on, what else were you going to do with your time?

The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer

This ebook is probably the best place to start with Chaucer, father of English poetry and the originator of comedy in the English language.

As a teacher teaching five completely different literature and writing classes to all ages of students, finding Litplans has been a life saver! Preparing literature studies is extremely time intensive and I am working from ground zero this year in a non-public school setting. What I have really enjoyed about the Litplans is the versatility of the material. I am able to pick and choose exactly what I need for the different levels I am teaching. I am also able to insert my own personal material into the Litplan material if we have covered some aspect not addressed in the Litplans. The material is extremely thorougb ans set up in such a way that it may be modified with every subsequent presentation.
I have even visited the website for this product and purchased more plans. I highly recommend this product to anyone faced with the challenge of developing quality literature curriculum for their classes or simply wishing to supplement what they are currently using.

There are those who are quite able to transfer their research into the written word in such a way that the reader is fully able to enjoy the fruits of their work - and there are those who are not. Thankfully, Bill Finnis belongs to the former group.

"Captain James Cook - Seaman and Scientist" arrived through my letterbox just as I was departing for a week's diving on one of the many Safari Boats found in the Egyptian Red Sea. I always take a good book on such trips and this one proved to be an excellent choice.

This is a hardback book measuring approx. 11in x 8¼in, containing almost 250 pages of text with just the right amount of charts, sketches, portraits and photographs in support. The book begins with a chapter headed "Setting the Scene" and that is precisely what it does. Drawing on his own vast experience of the sea, the author explains the prevailing wind conditions in the Pacific Ocean before reminding us of the contributions made by a host of individuals - many of us will remember from our school days; Magellan, Drake, Anson, Bougainville, Dampier and Cartaret - to name but some.

So, having been reminded of what has gone before in terms of world exploration we are now treated to an exposé of Cook's early years and how he came to be apprenticed to a small shipping company in Whitby on the Yorkshire coast. Then, after some 4 years - and just as he is offered his very first command of a merchant ship, he elects instead to widen his horizons by joining the Navy.

What follows is an immensely readable account of Cook's life and, of course, his death. Along the way, we learn of the difficulties associated with determining longitude and how this led to errors in fixing the precise positions of islands being charted by various explorers. We also learn how William Bligh - later to become that famous Captain Bligh of Mutiny on the Bounty fame, accompanied Cook on his last voyage. Perhaps, after learning so much about navigation from the great man himself, it was little wonder that Bligh survived that epic voyage in a small open boat after having been evicted from his ship.

Elsewhere, we learn how Cook had conducted a detailed survey of the Coast of New Zealand during 1769-1770. I particularly liked the comment whereby, in 1943 US Forces were based in that country and decided the charts should be brought up to date. Their own survey of the New Zealand coastline revealed several apparent errors made by Cook. Some years later, with the benefit of satellite position fixing, it was found that the US Forces were in error and Cook had been right all along.

In summary, this book contains 250 pages of historical detail written in a style which makes it hard to put down. It is a fascinating account of one of history's most fascinating men and the reader will not be disappointed by either the content or the way in which it is presented.

NM

Gash gives an excellent description of the period in which Caravaggio worked and biography of his life. There are fifteen large (10"x15") high quality plates (thumbs up for the publisher) that are representative of Caravaggio's work. Gash also gives informative details about each of the paintings depicted in the plates. Due to the brevity of the book, Gash has also given an exhaustive list of further readings on Caravaggio

Kane tells the story of the development of Chaucer in the context of his time. The climax is in the chapter on Troilus and Cressida ' called ' From Master Craftsman to Philosopher' and from the chapter on 'The Canterbury Tales' called 'The Human Tragicomedy'. In writing of the creation of the Canterbury Tales he says "Chaucer accepted that he was temperamentally incapable of competing with a poem as egoistic as the Divine Comedy; he would experiment with another concept of comedy radically differentiated from Dante's kind first by the self- effacement of the poet, and second by the absence of judgment and condemnation like that which Dante had people his ' Inferno'.
Kane develops a clear line in understanding the development of Chaucer. However he in doing so fails to consider the Robertson- Huppe interpretation of Chaucer which sees him as a fundamentally Christian artist. He too in seeming to vie for the alternative of a sophisticated, secular skeptical Chaucer precludes another perception of his world - view. The Chaucer scholar Sheila Delany has written about Chaucer's ' skeptical fideism' in which he believes in Christian doctrine and at the same time has a skeptical attitude.
Kane's volume is a good one but by no means comprehensive even in regard to the main outline of the Chaucer story. It is interesting that he writes of the last period of Chaucer's life as one in which he is disappointed, and has voluntarily given up writing. Most recently a line of thought has emerged suggesting that Chaucer was in fact assassinated for political reasons.

While one would never expect to find steam rolling off the pages of a text centered on medieval history, author Sheila Delany accomplishes to climax the topic for even the most uninitiated reader. Her descriptions of Hildegard of Bingen's sordid visions created a miasmic hellfire in my loins. Since when has one been so wholly transported into the visceral milieu of the medieval era?

This work in the words of Professor Besserman "interprets the significance of the pervasive biblical diction, imagery and themes in Chaucer's works in relation to the literary, social and political contexts of late medieval biblical poetics."
It enriches our knowledge not only of Chaucer but of the Medieval mindset. It also shows how a great literary artist makes use of his sources.
A true scholarly delight.

Geoffrey Chaucer's CANTERBURY TALES has been viewed within narrow parameters for nearly 600 years. Recently new insight, well worth considering, has been offered. Dolores Cullen, in her book CHAUCER'S HOST UP-SO-DOUN, tilts the TALES upside down to reveal a previously unrecognized allegorical level.

Written in our modern English, Cullen intends CHAUCER'S HOST to be readable and understood by those with only a passing acquaintance with the TALES. It actually is. Through extensive research, and possibly some divine intervention, Cullen proves that Herry Bailly, the host of the Canterbury pilgrims and judge of their tales, is another Host and judge as well. She uncovers the identity of Christ in Bailly. Given the politic and religious environment in Chaucer's time, it's understandable why he would hide this alternate level of commentary.

Cullen's vision is remarkably clear and makes one wonder why this truth was not seen before. The academic world has been too uptight about how Chaucer was to be interpreted to allow revelations. Cullen's dedication and perseverance are to be commended. Unable to ignore the masterpiece beneath the masterpiece that was unveiled for her eyes, she refused to be silent.

CHAUCER'S HOST is a wonderful gift for anyone interested in great literature, or complicated literary puzzles, for everyone from high school students to book collecters. It is certain to spark a revolution in Chaucerian studies. If any one author is going to change the world of classic literature, it is Dolores Cullen. --Lisa C. Warner