Canterbury Tales - Volume II (Classic Literature With Classical Music. Classic Fiction)

Chaucer, Geoffrey

ISBN 10: 9626342560 ISBN 13: 9789626342565

Publisher: Naxos Audio Books, 2002

Synopsis

Stories including "The Wife of Bath's Tale, The Prioress' Tale," and "The Nun's Priest Tale" paint a vivid picture of fourteenth-century medieval life, society, and values.

About this title

About the Author

Often referred to as the father of English poetry, Geoffrey Chaucer was a fourteenth-century philosopher, alchemist, astrologer, bureaucrat, diplomat, and author of many significant poems. Chaucer s writing was influential in English literary tradition, as it introduced new rhyming schemes and helped develop the vernacular traditionthe use of everyday Englishrather than the literary French and Latin, which were common in written works of the time. Chaucer s best-knownand most imitatedworks include The Canterbury Tales, Troilus and Criseyde, The Book of the Duchess, and The House of Fame.

From AudioFile

Chaucer's CANTERBURY TALES are timeless, but they present the audio producer with a dual challenge in rendering the language and pronunciation for the modern ear and, at the same time, preserving the tone and spirit of Chaucer's lines. This excellent production of four of the best-known tales earns high marks for both modernization and preservation. That is largely due to the choice of readers, whose crisp enunciation and firm pacing convey the personality and social milieu of each teller, but never at the expense of clarity. The tales themselves reflect the range of Chaucer's voices, from the ribald to the sanctimonious. Frances Jeater as the Wife of Bath is a standout, and Charles Simpson's handling of the Clerk's story of the patient Griselda brings feeling and conviction to the kind of medieval morality tale that modern readers often find most antiquated. The Reeve's tale of midnight shenanigans and the Nun's Priest's story of the rooster Chanticleer round out this outstanding set. D.A.W. © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Edition details

• Publisher: Naxos Audio Books
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 9626342560
• ISBN 13: 9789626342565
• Binding: Audio CD
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 30