The Canterbury Tales: A verse translation (Oxford World's Classics) [Paperback]

The canterbury Tales, translated by David Wright.
This is the best translation yet of the famous medieval work. I own the Coghill translation (Penguin), as well as the Norton Edition which is glossed and annotated. And the Oxford by Wright, an older version that is exactly the one reviewed here: same number of pages, same introduction, different cover artwork. To the issue at hand: Chaucer's poetry in the Canterbury Tales was direct, earthy, and sensual whenever his characters were thus, so it really betrays the poetry and the poet to translate his work as some sort of tea party where all the participants, including the Miller and the Wife of Bath, were prone to use euphemisms when the conversation got raunchy. But the Middle Ages were far raunchier than many of us think, and Chaucer was a man of his times, only more so. That is why I like this translation by Wright. His modern version flows quite naturally and the characters use words that do fit their personalities. However, the much-praised, but mediocre translation by Coghill does this with the Wife of Bath (Penguin, page 267):

Be sure, old dotard, if you call the bluff,
You'll get your evening rations right enough.

This is euphemism pure and simple, and euphemism of the bad kind, because in the original Chaucer NEVER mentions "evening rations." This "evening rations" nonsense is a term that Coghill put there because he could not bring himself to write the exact, modern term for the original "queynte." (And, no, contrary to some opinions, queynte does not mean "pretty little thing" or belle chose.) I don't blame him, since it would have been probably censored --I'm pretty sure Amazon would censor that word if I were to write it here. But it grates me that so many people have praised Coghill's version of the Tales as "the best" in modern English. No, it isn't. It's barely OK but it's not the best. The best is Wright's rendition. Let's see the original (Norton Critical Edition, page 113, lines 331-2):

For certeyn, olde dotard, by youre leve,
Ye shul have queynte right y-nough at eve.

We can clearly appreciate how Coghill has rewritten Chaucer's verse and the Wife's expressions until they correspond with somebody's idea of propriety (Coghill's), but certainly not Chaucer's or his sex-loving Wife of Bath's. Coghill kept the word "dotard," but decided not to keep the modern "queynte." He even goes so far as to invent "if you call the bluff" and "right enough" in order to force a rhyme. What does Wright do? Wright remains far closer to the original, as we expect a good translator to do (Oxford, page 227):

Don't worry, you old dotard--it's all right,
You'll have cvnt enough and plenty, every night.

I have misspelled the key word in order to filter through the censorship, but I hope you get the meaning. Wright also adds certain words and rearranges the lines so that they rhyme, as Coghill did. However, Wright is closer to Chaucer and to the speaker, the Wife of Bath, than Coghill ever was. There are no "evening rations" here. There is a woman who tells her husband that he'll get plenty of sex from her every night. Wright allows us to hear the Wife, and the Miller, and the other characters as Chaucer wanted them to be heard. His pilgrims came from all walks of life, with different experiences and different ways of expressing their hopes, sorrows, happiness and desires. This translation into modern English by Wright doesn't betray the poet by changing his characters' expressions for empty polite talk and euphemisms (although, admittedly, Chaucer made the Wife use some euphemisms, he also made her direct in several occasions; this is one of them). Wright has brought Chaucer and his wonderful Tales closer to us, and he deserves to be praised.

(Please note that I've given this book 5 stars because Amazon forces a star rating for reviews, and David Wright's translation itself deserves no fewer than 5 stars.)

Warning, would-be Kindle readers of the David Wright translation (Oxford World Classics): after the translator's introduction, the majority of the text in this book is stored as images, scanned from the print version! This causes several problems:

* The Kindle's dictionary can't be used.
* Text-to-speech can't be used.
* Text can't be annotated.
* Alternative text sizes can't be selected.
* Text size varies wildly as larger images are resized to fit my Kindle's 6" screen.
* Some of the image resizing renders text too small to be read comfortably on my Kindle's 6" screen.
* The book is a whopping 4.2 Mb for a mere 412 pages! That's more than ten times the size it would be if the text were stored properly in the Kindle's text format.
* The obscene file size, and constantly having to render images, are a drain on Kindle's battery.

It's disappointing and baffling that OUP chose not to produce a proper Kindle version of this excellent translation.

Before I get to the meat of the review, a note: if you're interested in reading The Canterbury Tales, I can't emphasize enough how wonderful the David Wright translation is (it's in the Oxford World's Classics version). Modernized but accurate, understandable but poetic, Wright balances a love of the language with a firm desire to tell the tales, and the result really allows you to savor the tales easily. As for the tales themselves - what could I possibly add? From the opening lines of prologue - which gives about as sprawling and detailed a glimpse into medieval life as you'll ever get - to a closing note written by an older (and somewhat more penitent) Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales are a marvelous set of stories. With tales ranging from dueling lovers to divided farts, from the lives of saints to hot pokers in asses, The Canterbury Tales show that there was a far greater richness, humor, and even baseness to life than we often get from history books. But none of that would matter if the tales and characters weren't as rich and wonderful as they are. The comedies are hilarious, the tragedies moving - but it all comes back to those pilgrims, a group whose richness lingers long after you finish the story. I really love this translation, and I wish it could get more recognition, as I think people would really enjoy reading the tales; whether you're an English major or just a reader, they're really a lot of fun.