The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer
The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer
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The Canterbury Tales
Penguin Classics

Author: Geoffrey Chaucer, Nevill Coghill

Narrator: Daniel Weyman, Derek Jacobi, Jay Bernard, Lesley Manville, Seroca Davis, Michael Balogun

Unabridged: 16 hr 44 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/26/2019

Synopsis

Brought to you by Penguin.

This Penguin Classic is performed by Lesley Manville (winner of the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress and known for Phantom Thread and Mum), Derek Jacobi (winner of the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor and known for Gladiator and Gosford Park), Michael Balogun (known for National Theatre Live: Macbeth), Jay Bernard (writer of Surge, artist, film programmer and activist) , Seroca Davis (known for Prime Suspect and Doctor Who), Daniel Weyman (winner of Audiobook Narrator of the Year at the Audio Production Awards 2016 and known for Gentleman Jack and A Very English Scandal) and Roy McMillan (winner of an Earphone Award for narration on Conclave and award-winning producer). This definitive recording is translated by, and includes an Introduction by Nevill Coghill.

In The Canterbury Tales Chaucer created one of the great touchstones of English literature, a masterly collection of chivalric romances, moral allegories and low farce. A story-telling competition between a group of pilgrims from all walks of life is the occasion for a series of tales that range from the Knight's account of courtly love and the ebullient Wife of Bath's Arthurian legend, to the ribald anecdotes of the Miller and the Cook.

Translation copyright © Nevill Coghill, 1951 and Nevill Coghill Ltd, 2019 (P) Penguin Audio 2019

About Geoffrey Chaucer

Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343–1400), English poet, was the son of a London vintner. He was married and held a number of positions at court and in the king’s service, including diplomat, controller of customs in the port of London, and deputy forester in the King’s Forest in Somerset. He was buried in the Poets’ Corner of Westminster Abbey where a monument was erected to him in 1555.

Reviews

Goodreads review by emma on January 27, 2024

welcome to...THE JANTERUARY TALES. get it? like the canterbury tales? only january? anyway. this is an installment of PROJECT LONG CLASSICS, by which i make intimidating books less scary by reading them over the course of a month and bothering all of you. it's been a while since i read an old-timey-lang......more

Goodreads review by MJ on October 09, 2023

When confronted with the painful choice of whether or not to read Chaucer in the original Middle English, I agonised for precisely four seconds and decided to read Nevill Coghill’s modern translation in lovely Penguin paperback. In the same way I wouldn’t learn German to read Goethe, or unlearn Engl......more

Goodreads review by Lisa of Troy on August 22, 2025

The Canterbury Tales can be an incredible experience or an incredibly boring experience depending upon your translation. The Canterbury Tales is often defined as the beginning of poetry in the English language. This is quite a lark as Chaucer didn’t even come up with original material. The stories or......more

Goodreads review by James on August 15, 2017

Book Review It was 1996 and my freshmen year at college. I had already declared English as my major and needed to choose between Chaucer and Shakespeare as the primary "classic" author to take a course on. I chose Shakespeare. My advisor told me that's the usual pick and most missed out.......more

Goodreads review by Manny on January 31, 2023

A classic that has worn well... the psychology, in particular with regard to women, seems remarkably modern! It's funny, and not just in one style either. Sometimes he's subverting the popular cliches of the day, sometimes he's slyly campaigning for women's rights, and sometimes he's just having fun......more

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