Friday, August 19, 2011

The Canterbury Tales: A retelling by Peter Ackroyd (Penguin )

“ Whanne that April with his shoures sote
The droughte of March hath perced to the rote.” Canterbury Tales. Prologue. Line 1.

“When the soft showers of April reach the roots of all things refreshing the parched earth” Peter Ackroyd retells


Almost three decades have passed since I read bits of The Canterbury Tales in Nevill Coghill’s brilliant translation of the famous medieval composition .Geoffrey Chaucer was born in London somewhere between 1341 and 1343 when English was gradually replacing French as the official language of the court. Son of a vintner Chaucer wrote in a language which was a different form of English which most of us found difficult to follow then .Canterbury Tales is considered to be one of the greatest poems of English Literature. I am not sure if students of literature read the text anymore. In the seventies and eighties the English literature syllabus of most Indian universities was dominated by works of British writers from all ages and genres. The syllabus has changed over the ages and most universities now have a more holistic coverage of world literature .Even the dinosaurian Calcutta University is gradually making its shift . Imagine my delight when I chanced upon the book in the fiction section of the library. Peter Ackroyd retells the story in prose for the enjoyment of contemporary readers. And Ackroyd succeeds in keeping me mesmerised and hooked to the narrative throughout.

Canterbury Tales presents a string of twenty four stories where tragedy,comedy,sex, salacious humour,high romance,heroic all blend together to portray the “variously moving forces” of fourteenth century London. A motley group of pilgrims meet at a London inn on their way to Canterbury and agree to take part in a story telling competition for entertainment during their five day journey from Southwark to Canterbury. It is agreed that the best story would win a supper at the inn on return. As they make their way on the road the travellers have great fun and try to outdo each other with their tales. The characters are drawn from all sections of the society-there’s a Knight , a burly miller, a handsome monk, a summoner, a modest nun, a cook, the good wife of bath who had five husbands, a choleric reeve, a poor parson, a doctor of physic who spoke eloquently about medicine and surgery and other equally interesting characters.

Peter Ackroyd is a historian and writer based in London. Ackroyd thinks the book should be read by contemporary readers simply because it is one of the best works of literature to date .Moreover it is a vivid portrayal of medieval Anglo-Saxon society and fourteenth century history .Ackroyd writes the story in an easy and fluent style which can be understood by all. Written for modern times it is a wonderful attempt to bring a classic work of literature to the masses that are generally more comfortable with prose than poetry. Ackroyd captures the spirit and essence of Chaucer’s narrative to a great extent. However for poetry lovers there is no alternative but to read the text in original along with its translation side by side, to get a true flavour of Chaucer’s mastery over the medium and his skill as a poet and storyteller.

If you have not read Chaucer I would definitely recommend readers to try the book just for the sake of the story itself.

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