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Wednesday 18 February 2015

Book Review: The Canterbury Tales - Geoffrey Chaucer

A Bantam Book
First published 1400
First Bantam Edition - May 1964
*** - 3 Stars
 Lively, absorbing, often outrageously funny, Chaucer's THE CANTERBURY TALES is a work of genius, an undisputed classic that has held special appeal for each generation of readers. The TALES gather twenty-nine of literatures most enduring (and endearing) characters in a vivid group portrait that captures the full spectrum of medieval society. From the exhalted Knight to the humble Plowman.

The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer is a selection of stories that show the in's and out's of medieval society.
I gave this book three stars because, unless you have some relatively good knowledge of European history - especially Roman history - you are going to struggle with this book. It is no easy read and you have to be rather committed to get through it. The other thing is, how it's written. One of the things that puts people off reading Classics is the language and sentence structure. Considering we speak no where near as formally and proper as they did say.... back in Austen's time, the way the books are written can make them appear intimidating.
However, this is a whole new level of intimidating. This book was written in medieval times so the language is so unlike modern English, it is laughable. Thank goodness for the modern English translation! (Although, this is still considerably difficult to follow.)
A good book; I enjoyed learning about medieval society. Their views on women's and men's roles within society were very interesting. It brought Emma Watson's feminism speech to the forefront of my mind!
If you've read this, let me know what you thought.

***
Lots of love, Lara xx

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