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Fiction » Classic English Literature

The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
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The Canterbury Tales

by Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales is a funny and moving collection of fictional life stories, written in a language now known as Middle English in the 14th century. It’s accessible to the modern reader, but can be a little hard to follow. If you’d like to read the stories, but don’t have the time to get into the language, reading a modern translation—like poet, author and translator David Wright’s The Canterbury Tales: A Prose Version in Modern English—is a good option. 

Recommendations from our site

“Each individual tale can be interpreted in so many ways—Chaucer really opens up possibilities of multiple interpretations. Even when he seems to give you a clear moral, that moral is never effective or convincing. He’s always saying: ‘Find your own moral; find your own meaning.’” Read more...

The Canterbury Tales: A Reading List

Marion Turner, Biographer

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by Geoffrey Chaucer

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Troilus and Criseyde
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The Riverside Chaucer by Geoffrey Chaucer

The Riverside Chaucer
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