Record Number: 32369

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

(1) 'With the Chaucer I am most awfully bucked: it is in the very best Everyman style — lovely paper, strong boards, and — aren't you envious — not one but two bits of tissue paper.... As to the contents ... they have proved even better than I hoped: I have only had time so far to read the "Prologue" and "The Knight's Tale" (that's Palamon and Arcite you know), but I adore them. The tale is a perfect poem of chivalry, isn't it?' (2) 'I have now read all the tales of Chaucer which I ever expected to read, and feel that I may consider the book as finished: some of them are quite impossible. On the whole, with one or two splendid exceptions such as the Knight's and the Franklin's tales, he is disappointing when you get to know him. He has most of the faults of the Middle Ages — garrulity and coarseness — without their romantic charm which we find in the "Green Knight" or in Malory.'

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

Between 28 May 1916 and 14 Jun 1916

Country:

England

Time

n/a

Place:

Great Bookham
Surrey
'Gastons'

Type of Experience
(Reader):
 

silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

Type of Experience
(Listener):
 

solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

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Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Clive Staples Lewis

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

29 Nov 1898

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Student

Religion:

Church of England

Country of Origin:

Northern Ireland

Country of Experience:

England

Listeners present if any:
e.g family, servants, friends

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

Geoffrey Chaucer

Title:

Canterbury Tales

Genre:

Fiction, Essays / Criticism, Poetry

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

Chaucer's Canterbury Tales for the Modern Reader, Prepared & Edited by Arthur Burrell (Uniform Title: Single Works Canterbury Tales Modernized Versions) London: Dent, 1908 (Everyman's Library)

Provenance

owned

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Source Information:

Record ID:

32369

Source:

Print

Author:

C. S. Lewis

Editor:

Walter Hooper

Title:

C. S. Lewis Collected Letters

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

2000

Vol:

1

Page:

187, 192

Additional Comments:

(1) From a letter to Arthur Greeves, 30 May 1916 (2) From a letter to the same, 14 June 1916

Citation:

C. S. Lewis, Walter Hooper (ed.), C. S. Lewis Collected Letters, (London, 2000), 1, p. 187, 192, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=32369, accessed: 29 April 2024

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Additional Comments:

From Burrell's 'Introduction': 'Certain tales, seven out of the twenty-four, have been left untouched.... In regard to the other seventeen, I may say that, first, the spelling has been slightly modernised, modernised just enough to leave its quaintness and take away some of its difficulty.... Difficulties of vocabulary have been treated in the same way.... some care has been taken to preserve Chaucer's melody....' A critique of Chaucer's work is also included.