Immagine dell'autore.

Geoffrey Chaucer (–1400)

Autore di I racconti di Canterbury

365+ opere 40,003 membri 326 recensioni 106 preferito
Ci sono 5 discussioni aperte su questo autore. Vedi ora.

Sull'Autore

Geoffrey Chaucer, one of England's greatest poets, was born in London about 1340, the son of a wine merchant and deputy to the king's butler and his wife Agnes. Not much is known of Chaucer's early life and education, other than he learned to read French, Latin, and Italian. His experiences as a mostra altro civil servant and diplomat are said to have developed his fascination with people and his knowledge of English life. In 1359-1360 Chaucer traveled with King Edward III's army to France during the Hundred Years' War and was captured in Ardennes. He returned to England after the Treaty of Bretigny when the King paid his ransom. In 1366 he married Philippa Roet, one of Queen Philippa's ladies, who gave him two sons and two daughters. Chaucer remained in royal service traveling to Flanders, Italy, and Spain. These travels would all have a great influence on his work. His early writing was influenced by the French tradition of courtly love poetry, and his later work by the Italians, especially Dante, Boccaccio, and Petrarch. Chaucer wrote in Middle English, the form of English used from 1100 to about 1485. He is given the designation of the first English poet to use rhymed couplets in iambic pentameter and to compose successfully in the vernacular. Chaucer's Canterbury Tales is a collection of humorous, bawdy, and poignant stories told by a group of fictional pilgrims traveling to the shrine of St. Thomas a Becket. It is considered to be among the masterpieces of literature. His works also include The Book of the Duchess, inspired by the death of John Gaunt's first wife; House of Fame, The Parliament of Fowls, and The Legend of Good Women. Troilus and Criseyde, adapted from a love story by Boccaccio, is one of his greatest poems apart from The Canterbury Tales. Chaucer died in London on October 25, 1400. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, in what is now called Poet's Corner. (Bowker Author Biography) mostra meno
Fonte dell'immagine: Illustration from Cassell's History of England - Century Edition - published circa 1902.
Via Wikipedia.

Serie

Opere di Geoffrey Chaucer

I racconti di Canterbury (0014) 21,479 copie
Opere (testo a fronte) (1369) 1,912 copie
Troilus and Cressida (1374) 1,832 copie
Chanticleer and the Fox (1958) 1,532 copie
Chaucer's Major Poetry (1963) 245 copie
The Knight's Tale (1966) 137 copie
The Portable Chaucer (1949) 130 copie
The Parliament of Birds (1960) 100 copie
Chaucer Reader (1950) 78 copie
The Miller's Tale (1983) 77 copie
The Legend of Good Women (1386) 52 copie
The Book of the Duchess (1532) 46 copie
The Franklin's Tale (1931) 41 copie
Tales from Chaucer (1947) 27 copie
The House of Fame (2013) 21 copie
Chaucer's dream poetry (1997) 19 copie
The Romaunt of the Rose (1999) 13 copie
Ridder Sox en Koekeloer (1956) 11 copie
Selected Canterbury Tales (2002) 10 copie
Tales from Chaucer (1900) 10 copie
The Prioress' Tale (1987) 9 copie
The Merchant's Tale (1970) 8 copie
The Parson's Tale (1995) 7 copie
Chaucer 7 copie
The manciple's tale (1984) 6 copie
Anelida and Arcite (1905) 6 copie
The Wadsworth Chaucer (1986) 6 copie
An ABC 5 copie
A Choice of Chaucer's Verse (1972) — Autore — 4 copie
The Summoner's Tale (1995) 4 copie
The Man of Law's tale (1969) 4 copie
Truth {poem} 2 copie
Concubine (e-book) (2009) 2 copie
Geoffrey Chaucer (1991) 1 copia
Verona (2013) 1 copia
Boece 1 copia
A CHAUCER COLORING BOOK (1973) 1 copia
Lyrics And Allegory (1971) 1 copia
Short poems 1 copia
The College Chaucer (2007) 1 copia
Chaucer´s Works (2018) 1 copia
December 1 copia
Works V (2016) 1 copia
Persuasion 1 copia

Opere correlate

The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms (2000) — Collaboratore — 1,224 copie
Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama (1995) — Collaboratore, alcune edizioni902 copie
English Poetry, Volume I: From Chaucer to Gray (1910) — Collaboratore — 513 copie
The Oxford Book of English Verse (1999) — Collaboratore — 462 copie
From the Tower Window (My Book House) (1932) — Collaboratore — 258 copie
Medieval English Lyrics: A Critical Anthology (1963) — Collaboratore — 194 copie
The Faber Book of Beasts (1997) — Collaboratore — 135 copie
The Oxford Book of Villains (1992) — Collaboratore — 134 copie
Major British Writers, Volumes I and II (1954) — Collaboratore — 121 copie
The Standard Book of British and American Verse (1932) — Collaboratore — 110 copie
The Canterbury Tales (2011) — Collaboratore — 106 copie
The Treasury of English Short Stories (1985) — Collaboratore — 81 copie
Heroic Fantasy Short Stories (Gothic Fantasy) (2017) — Collaboratore — 68 copie
The Bedside Book of Famous British Stories (1940) — Collaboratore — 66 copie
Reader's Digest Great Stories for Young Readers (1969) — Collaboratore — 66 copie
A Book of Narrative Verse (1930) — Collaboratore — 61 copie
Prose and Poetry for Appreciation (1934) — Collaboratore, alcune edizioni45 copie
The Faber Book of Gardens (2007) — Collaboratore — 45 copie
Selected sonnets, odes, and letters (1966) — Traduttore, alcune edizioni38 copie
Spring: A Spiritual Biography of the Season (2006) — Collaboratore — 33 copie
Floure and the Leafe, the Assembly of Ladies, the Isle of Ladies (1990) — mis-attribution, alcune edizioni33 copie
Masters of British Literature, Volume A (2007) — Collaboratore — 20 copie
Ellery Queen's Poetic Justice (1967) — Collaboratore, alcune edizioni18 copie
The Ribald Reader: 2000 Years of Lusty Love and Laughter (1906) — Collaboratore — 17 copie
The Fireside Book of Ghost Stories (1947) — Collaboratore — 15 copie
Trees: A Celebration (1989) — Collaboratore — 13 copie
Men and Women: The Poetry of Love (1970) — Collaboratore — 7 copie
Discussions of the Canterbury Tales (1961) — Autore — 6 copie
Chaucer's Translation of Boethius's "De Consolatione Philosphiæ." (0014) — Traduttore, alcune edizioni5 copie
Famous stories of five centuries (1934) — Collaboratore — 4 copie
Die Aussprache des Chaucer- Englischen. (1998) — Collaboratore — 4 copie
Great Poems from Chaucer to Whitman — Collaboratore — 3 copie
Spøgelseshistorier fra hele verden — Collaboratore, alcune edizioni3 copie
El cuento literario (2008) — Collaboratore — 2 copie
The Court of Venus (1955) — mis-attribution, alcune edizioni1 copia

Etichette

Informazioni generali

Utenti

Discussioni

OT: Chaucer collection goes online in Fine Press Forum (Ottobre 30)
LE Canterbury Tales in Folio Society Devotees (Giugno 9)
Kelmscott Chaucer in Fine Press Forum (Novembre 2022)

Recensioni

63. Troilus and Criseyde (Broadview Editions) by Geoffrey Chaucer
editors: James McMurrin Dean & Harriet Spiegel (2016)
OPD: 1385
format: 450-page oversized paperback with the original text and notes on the same page.
acquired: April 2022 read: (Aug 26) Sep 8 – Nov 19 time reading: 34:48, 4.6 mpp
rating: 5
genre/style: Middle English epic poetry theme: Chaucer
locations: Troy
about the author: Chaucer (~1342 – October 25, 1400) was an English poet and civil servant.

extended excerpts:
- Le Roman de Troie by Benoît de Sainte-Maure (c1160), translated from French by Robert K. Gordon (1934)
- Il Filostrato by Giovanni Boccaccio (c1340), translated from Italian by Robert K. Gordon (1934)
- The Testament of Cresseid by Robert Henryson (1532). Translated by the editors (2016)
- Metamorphoses by Ovid (7 ce), translated from Latin by Rolfe Humphries 1961
- Ars Amatoria (The Art of Love) by Ovid (3 bce), translated by Rolfe Humphries 1957
- The Consolation of Philosophy by Ancius Boethius (524), translated from Latin by Victor Watts (1969, 1999)
- On Love by Andreas Capellanus (c1190), translated from French by P.G. Walsh (1993)
- Romance of the Rose by Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun (c1230/c1275), translated from French by Charles Dahlberg (1971)
- Canzoniere Sonnet 132 by Francesco Petrarch (c1370), translated from Italian by A.S. Kline (2002)
- Commentary on Cicero's Dream of Scipio by Macrobius (c400), translated from Latin by William Harris Stahl (1952,1990,2009)
- excerpts from Lovesick in the Middle Ages: The Viaticum and Its Commentaries by Mary Wack (1990)
--- Viaticum by Constantine the African (1000s) - a Latin translation from Arabic of Zad Al Mussafir by Ibn Al Jazzar (900's)
--- Glosses on the Viaticum by Gerald of Berry (c1236), translated from Latin
--- Treatise on the Viaticum by Bona Fortuna (c1320), translated from Latin

Well. I can't possibly review this. What I can say is that this Broadview Press edition is fantastic. It has the original language with some spelling clarifications, along with notes. And Chaucer is readable enough today that that is enough information and allows the reader to enjoy the poetry, especially play of sound. I don't think Chaucer is readable without help (or extensive knowledge of the London dialect of Middle English).

Also, I really enjoyed this. It's a highlight of my year. I read it in the morning for 20 to 40 minutes and relished it, reading only six or so pages at a sitting. The plot is simple. The text is largely dialogue, one character speaking for pages at a time. I never felt in danger of getting lost and I never worried about breaking off at any point, or about pressing on until some conclusion.

Also, it's humor. I never felt the need to take anything seriously, even Chaucer's philosophical side points. This surprised me a little because everything I read about this led to me expect some deep Christian-era-friendly thoughts. This is supposed to be Chaucer's big serious effort at artistry and reputation. But this is funny, elegant and funny. And, also, it is not clean. The tone is always playful, as playful as the language.

I think the language and linguistic play is the main point here. I enjoyed this aspect so much.

The best character is Pandarus, the uncle of Criseyde and friend of Trojan prince, Troilus. He is a gamer through and through. The game is how to get his niece linked to the number one bachelor in Troy. I couldn't help imagining that Chaucer saw himself in Pandarus, but that's my impression. The character Troilus, meanwhile, is comically ridiculous. He's spineless and roiling in bed suffering from lovesickness. When Pandarus sets the world up for him, and the world is his in Book 3, he comes alive a little. He is thoroughly tragic in Book 4, and it's almost moving until we remember him in bed in back in the early books. Criseyde (maybe pronounced "Christ-eyed", but the pronunciation, based on the rhymes, seems ambiguous) is ultimately practical. She's a convincing lover, and I was left thinking I never got her right, that it was never clear where her true feelings lay. Somehow Pandarus makes the match, but he gets no benefit from it or its tragic end. The more Pandarus was present, the better Chaucer's writing was, in my opinion.

I wish I could conclude. One for the brave, thoroughly rewarding.

2023
https://www.librarything.com/topic/354226#8291135
… (altro)
 
Segnalato
dchaikin | 5 altre recensioni | Nov 23, 2023 |
Since I was hanging around Kent and had been walking the ancient pilgrimage route, I thought I should get to know its most famous literary product. I finally found this book in a charity shop in Canterbury itself, and it seemed perfect - while it only contains fifteen of the tales (and some of those excerpts), fully half the book is made up of contextual information and analysis, so I could truly understand the work.
I was a little intimidated at first at the idea of reading in Middle English, but soon found that although it does take an effort, the poetic form of most of the tales naturally encouraged me to keep reading.
I found the Canterbury Tales a lot more engaging than the Decameron, mostly because the variety of characters were given strong and memorable personalities which occasionally would come into conflict. I could only imagine the knight's horror as his proud tale of honour and love is followed up by a slew of fart jokes and personal attacks.
On the other hand as a modern reader I found the Tales seemed a lot more hostile to women than the Decameron. It soon became tedious to read all the whinging about the terrible curse of marriage and the fickleness of wives. At least we women have the Wife of Bath in our corner!
The contextual material that followed was quite good, but the analysis...well it reminded me why I quit studying English literature despite being good enough to earn a scholarship: the tendency for literary analysis to be filled with insufferable pomposity that masks a distinct lack of substance.
On the one hand, one of the included essays did provide an interesting response to my biggest issue with the work, pitching the various stories involving marriage as a debate that concludes in support of marital harmony. And there were a few other useful tidbits I managed to pick up, like the contradictory character of the Prioress - her propriety perhaps hiding a hateful heart.
On the other, it took me about three times as long to read this section as it did the rest of the book combined. When it is easier to read actual non-Englishthan the modern English essays discussing it, I think there is an issue. Of course, this book is intended for university-level students of English literature so it could be a matter of me being the wrong audience, and I'd hate to be one of those "I don't understand it, therefore it's bad" cretins, but I can't help but feel the obfuscating language was covering for a lack of real substance.
An okay introduction, but in future I'll probably seek out a different version!
… (altro)
 
Segnalato
weemanda | 4 altre recensioni | Nov 2, 2023 |
Note that this is a review of Vincent F. Hopper's Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (Selected): An Interlinear Translation. Most of the other reviews on this page are of The Canterbury Tales in general, in editions which should have been linked to that work, not to this interlinear Chaucer. As far as I'm concerned, the Canterbury Tales is a five star work, but the Hoppner version is about two stars.

This is an idea that works a lot better in theory than in practice. I have quite a few interlinear editions of various works -- the Greek Bible, Beowulf, others. For a language that is not English, the benefits of an interlinear are obvious and the detriments relatively few (unless you're trying to force yourself to become truly fluent in the source language, anyway). I had hoped that that would be true of Chaucer, too.

It isn't. Period. End of story.

Part of that is the way this interlinear is done. A good interlinear presents the main text continuously, usually with the translated text in smaller type below the main one. There is a clear main text and a clear subordinate text. This isn't done that way. Chaucer's text and Hopper's are placed one above the other, with Chaucer's text in roman type and Hopper's in italic, then a blank line. Thus the first three lines are:

Whan that Aprille with his shoures sote
When April with his showers sweet

The droghte of Marche hath perced to the rote,
The drought of March has pierced to the root,

And bathed every veyne in swich licour,
And bathed every vein in such liquor,

This format makes it much too easy to read both lines by accident, when one really wants to read only Chaucer and refer to the interlinear only when necessary. Particularly since the modern English text is pedestrian. What's more, the modern English text sometimes is literal and sometimes is pretty free, which doesn't really help with understanding the Middle English. Hopper's is really a text that belongs as a parallel, not an interlinear. That would save paper, too, and let Hopper include more tales.

And therein lies the other problem: This isn't really the Canterbury Tales. This thing has truly pressed most of the life out of the Tales. As well as misrepresenting them.

Oh, it's no great loss to drop a few tales. The Physician's Tale is no loss, and the Squire's Tale is enough to make your head spin. And the greatest of the Tales -- the Knight's, the Franklin's, the Wife of Bath's, the Pardoner's, the Nun's Priest's -- are here.

But so is the Prioress's Tale, and if any tale should be suppressed, it's that horrid racist one! And the Miller's Tale is gone, and so is "Sir Thopas"! You can't do Chaucer without Sir Thopas! I'd really like to have the Canon's Yeoman's Tale, too.

Now I understand why the Miller's Tale is gone -- it was too dirty for 1948. But if you don't have the Miller's Tale, then you don't have the link between the Knight's Tale and the Miller's Tale, and you miss much of the point of the Canterbury Tales, which often is not the tales themselves but the links. Yes, the greatest of the tales -- the five I listed above, in particular -- can stand on their own, but the fun of the rest lies in the links. Hopper turned a continuous work, even if one that was never completed and lacks many connections -- into a mere anthology.

Another strange effect of the interlinear translation is that it prevents Hopper from providing an adequate set of notes. There are only about six pages. So the note on "at the Tabard as I lay" says only that the Tabard is "The name of the inn." Which is true, but not particularly useful. It's important to know that the Tabard was a real inn, in a real Southwark, managed by a real Harry Bailly, from which actual pilgrims set out to the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket. (By the way, there is no gloss at all on "The holy blisful martir for to seek" -- no explanation of the cult of Becket!)

A few other comments: The introduction is pretty weak, though that's not all Hopper's fault; Chaucer Studies have come a long way since his time. But it's still not adequate, and there really isn't enough information about what Middle English edition Hopper used as his base.

All in all, a dreadful disappointment. Admittedly I read Middle English a lot better than most -- I can often go many lines of Chaucer without needing a gloss. But I genuinely think that anyone who wants to read Chaucer (which should be every native speaker of English -- we're talking about the man who made English a great literary language!) would do better with the Riverside Chaucer or its equivalent: You get all the Chaucer, all the notes, and all the meaning.
… (altro)
 
Segnalato
waltzmn | 4 altre recensioni | Oct 16, 2023 |
Beautifully illustrated.
 
Segnalato
Copenhagen43DK | 32 altre recensioni | Oct 5, 2023 |

Liste

AP Lit (1)

Premi e riconoscimenti

Potrebbero anche piacerti

Autori correlati

Nevill Coghill Translator, Editor
V.A. Kolve Editor
Vincent F. Hopper Editor and translator, Translator
Barbara Cohen Translator
Malcolm Andrew Critical Commentary, Editor
Charles Moorman Text and Collations
Daniel Ransom Textual Commentary
William Caxton Contributor, Illustrator, Preface
Barbara Cooney Illustrator
Edward Burne-Jones Illustrator
Francis Petrarch Contributor
Lee Patterson Contributor
Pope Gregory X Contributor
St. Jerome Contributor
Robert Rypon Contributor
Barbara Nolan Contributor
Walter Map Contributor
Macrobius Contributor
Paul Strohm Contributor
William Langland Contributor
Arthur W. Hoffman Contributor
Ovid Contributor
St. Augustine Contributor
John Gower Contributor
Giovanni Boccaccio Contributor
Thomas Wimbledon Contributor
Marie de France Contributor
Jean de Meun Contributor
Carolyn Dinshaw Contributor
F. R. H. Du Boulay Contributor
Theophrastus Contributor
Trina Sebart Hyman Illustrator
Trina Schart Hyman Illustrator
Hermann Rosse Illustrator
Arthur Szyk Illustrator
Donald C. Baker Introduction, Editor
M. B. Parkes Introduction
Robert Hill Adapted by
A. I. Doyle Introduction
T.E. Lawrence Contributor
Peter Tuttle Translator
Robert W. Hanning Introduction, Editor
Ted Stearn Cover artist, Cover designer
Nick Bantock Illustrator
Louis Untermeyer Introduction
Derek Pearsall Introduction
J. U. Nicolson Translator
Gerard NeCastro Translator
R.M Lumiansky Translator
Peter Levi Blurber
Robert Latham General editor
Rockwell Kent Illustrator
John Wain Introduction
David Wright Translator
Victòria Gual Translator
Peter Forster Illustrator
Mark Allen Editor
Ernst van Altena Translator
Victor G. Ambrus Illustrator
A.J. Barnouw Translator
Melvyn Bragg Foreword
Raffel Burton Translator
William Morris Designer, Illustrator
Eric Gill Illustrator
Edward Gorey Cover designer
Peter Brookes Illustrator
Roy Morgan Cover artist
Greg Irons Illustrator
Ann McMillan Translator
W. Russell Flint Illustrator
J.J. Mak Editor
Warwick Goble Illustrator

Statistiche

Opere
365
Opere correlate
46
Utenti
40,003
Popolarità
#442
Voto
3.8
Recensioni
326
ISBN
1,005
Lingue
24
Preferito da
106
A proposito di
1
Citazioni
800

Grafici & Tabelle