Hardcover, 642 pages
English language
Published Aug. 7, 1994 by Modern Library.
A collection of stories written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer at the end of the 14th century. The tales (mostly in verse, although some are in prose) are told as part of a story-telling contest by a group of pilgrims as they travel together on a journey from Southwark to the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral. In a long list of works, including Troilus and Criseyde, House of Fame, and Parliament of Fowls, The Canterbury Tales was Chaucer's magnum opus. He uses the tales and the descriptions of the characters to paint an ironic and critical portrait of English society at the time, and particularly of the Church. Structurally, the collection bears the influence of The Decameron, which Chaucer is said to have come across during his first diplomatic mission to Italy in 1372. However, Chaucer peoples his tales with 'sondry folk' rather than Boccaccio's fleeing …
A collection of stories written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer at the end of the 14th century. The tales (mostly in verse, although some are in prose) are told as part of a story-telling contest by a group of pilgrims as they travel together on a journey from Southwark to the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral. In a long list of works, including Troilus and Criseyde, House of Fame, and Parliament of Fowls, The Canterbury Tales was Chaucer's magnum opus. He uses the tales and the descriptions of the characters to paint an ironic and critical portrait of English society at the time, and particularly of the Church. Structurally, the collection bears the influence of The Decameron, which Chaucer is said to have come across during his first diplomatic mission to Italy in 1372. However, Chaucer peoples his tales with 'sondry folk' rather than Boccaccio's fleeing nobles.
I only read: The "General Prologue", the "Miller's Tale", the "Reeve's Tale", the "Pardoner's Tale", the "Wife of Bath's Tale", the "Merchant's Tale", and the "Nun's Priest's Tale". Some of the stories were funny and others were just weird.
This looks at first as though it is part of that great category of books, the pub guide. However this one diverges from the universal start point of a drinker reviewing a pub by sitting in it and having a beer; sadly this is not the kind of person who should be drinking beer (possibly) as his behaviour from then on becomes surreal. But then some people, those who do not use pubs, might feel that this is the norm - I look forward to reading comments about people who review pubs, q.v. "You shouldn't call them men, you should call them weirdos." Or something like that. [yes, I know women review pubs as well. But you see where I am going here]. I am sure there is a niche for reprinting or including in a blog, the weirder reviews from Beerintheevening.com, some of which rival the worst fanfic for …
This looks at first as though it is part of that great category of books, the pub guide. However this one diverges from the universal start point of a drinker reviewing a pub by sitting in it and having a beer; sadly this is not the kind of person who should be drinking beer (possibly) as his behaviour from then on becomes surreal. But then some people, those who do not use pubs, might feel that this is the norm - I look forward to reading comments about people who review pubs, q.v. "You shouldn't call them men, you should call them weirdos." Or something like that. [yes, I know women review pubs as well. But you see where I am going here]. I am sure there is a niche for reprinting or including in a blog, the weirder reviews from Beerintheevening.com, some of which rival the worst fanfic for misspellings, bizarre statements, compound fractures of the syntax, ad hominem attacks, accusations of criminal activity (often allied to severe misspelling), the illusion that the landlord and staff are in any way pleased to see them, &c, &c.
This "London Pub Reviews" is in a way a distillation of that kind of thing along with a heady dose of Frank Key-ish surrealism. It does, also, describe the pub, its decor, its beer &c before diving into the weird, which is good. After all no pub-owner would want to find their pub pilloried and/or ignored by a supposed reviewer; there are some very good pubs in here and they are properly reviewed. At first.
However despite the funny that this book brings the reviews / pieces do tend towards the predictable after a few (so to speak) - they follow the same format. This is not the case in my favourite of this kind of book (admittedly it is a very small genre), Alan Reeve Jones' "London Pubs" (1962) in which some pieces are straightforward reviews, others divert into surrealism, others eschew the pub itself entirely in favour of a rambling narrative about the narrator and his friend Xerxes McGill. It is unfortunate that the Reeve Jones slants my perception of any book like this simply because it was done so well. Ewen's effort is pretty good anyway, although as said the pattern is invariable - misbehaviour, police or ejection.
Q.
A. I am not sure how much we are supposed to sympathise with the narrator. It is possible that we are supposed to condemn those around him because they are not supportive in any way; that he sees it as a safe place but it isn't.
Q.
A. Yes, the whole book could I suppose if you wanted to be seen as an attack on the public house as a whole, that they encourage drunkenness and that the customer is there under suffrance. If you wanted to. But that might be playing into the hands of those who are opposed to the alcohol industry and alcohol workers as a whole, who would like to see consenting alcohol use for money between adults driven underground.
Q.
A. Exactly like Al Capone or "Boardwalk Empire," I do agree. Just remember kids, the Sleep of Reason breeds Mobsters. Goodnight.
1) ''When in April the sweet showers fall
And pierce the drought of March to the root, and all
The veins are bathed in liquor of such power
As brings about the engendering of the flower,
When also Zephyrus with his sweet breath
Exhales an air in every grove and heath
Upon the tender shoots, and the young sun
His half-course in the sign of the Ram has run,
And the small fowl are making melody
That sleep away the night with open eye
(So nature pricks them and their heart engages)
Then people long to go on pilgrimages
And palmers long to seek the stranger strands
Of far-off saints, hallowed in sundry lands,
And specially, from every shire's end
Of England, down to Canterbury they wend
To seek the holy blissful martyr, quick
To give his help to them when they were sick.''
2) ''This lad was known as …
1) ''When in April the sweet showers fall
And pierce the drought of March to the root, and all
The veins are bathed in liquor of such power
As brings about the engendering of the flower,
When also Zephyrus with his sweet breath
Exhales an air in every grove and heath
Upon the tender shoots, and the young sun
His half-course in the sign of the Ram has run,
And the small fowl are making melody
That sleep away the night with open eye
(So nature pricks them and their heart engages)
Then people long to go on pilgrimages
And palmers long to seek the stranger strands
Of far-off saints, hallowed in sundry lands,
And specially, from every shire's end
Of England, down to Canterbury they wend
To seek the holy blissful martyr, quick
To give his help to them when they were sick.''
2) ''This lad was known as Nicholas the Gallant
And making love in secret was his talent,
For he was very close and sly, and took
Advantage of his meek and girlish look.
He rented a small chamber in the kip
All by himself without companionship.
He decked it charmingly with herbs and fruit
And he himself was sweeter than the root
Of liquorice, or any fragrant herb.
His astronomic text-books were superb.''
