What Do I Read Next?
- Among the notable writers of Chaucer’s era was Giovanni Boccaccio. His renowned work, The Decameron (1350), is a collection of one hundred short stories, which likely influenced the structure Chaucer employed. Additionally, some tales in Chaucer's works are derived from The Decameron.
- Launched in 1998 by the Thirty Third International Congress of Medieval Studies, the “Chaucer Metapage” is a project designed to coordinate all Chaucer-related online resources. It can be accessed at http://www.unc.edu/depts/chaucer/index.html (as of August 6, 2001).
- Nevill Coghill translated The Canterbury Tales into Modern English, and this version was later adapted into a Broadway musical in 1968. This translation, part of the Penguin Classics series, is widely regarded as the best modern rendition. Penguin USA released a recent edition in 2000.
- Nevill Coghill also translated Chaucer’s other acclaimed work, Troilus and Criseyde (1483), which is available from Penguin Classics.
- Several of Chaucer’s lesser-known works have been compiled in the Penguin Classics book titled Love Visions. This collection includes “The Book of the Duchess,” “The House of Fame,” “The Parliament of Birds,” and “The Legend of Good Women.” Translated by Brian Stone, it was published by Viking Press in 1985.
- Sir Edmund Spenser’s epic poem, The Faerie Queen, published in 1590, two centuries after Chaucer, reminisces about an era of knights and medieval folklore, which is why it is often associated with The Canterbury Tales. This poem is available as a Penguin Classic from Viking Press, with a reissue released in 1988.
- Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, a chivalric tale predating Chaucer to the thirteenth century, was translated into modern English in 1925 by J. R. R. Tolkien, author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Ballantine Books reissued this translation in 1988.
- Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy, one of the most influential poetic works ever written, narrates the author's journey through hell, purgatory, and heaven. Published in 1321, it is almost certain that Chaucer read it, as have countless poetry enthusiasts over the centuries.
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