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Chaucer
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 4 hrs and 28 mins
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Publisher's summary
Chaucer, who died in 1400, lived a surprisingly eventful life. He served with the Duke of Clarence and with Edward III, and in 1359 was taken prisoner in France and ransomed. Through his wife, Philippa, he gained the patronage of John of Gaunt, which helped him carve out a career at Court. His posts included Controller of Customs at the Port of London, Knight of the Shire for Kent, and King's Forester. He went on numerous adventurous diplomatic missions to France and Italy. Yet he was also indicted for rape, sued for debt, and captured in battle.
He began to write in the 1360s, and is now known as the father of English poetry. His Troilus and Criseyde is one of the finest examples of Middle English literature, and his masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales, is a forerunner of the English novel.
In his lively style, Peter Ackroyd, one of the most acclaimed biographers and novelists writing today, brings us an eye-opening portrait, rich in drama, color, and historical detail, of a prolific, multifaceted genius.
Critic reviews
"Simon Vance delivers his account with crispness, clarity, and flair. Chaucer's English was markedly different from ours, but Vance delivers both the lines in the original Middle English and in contemporary translation dramatically. Listeners can feel the rhythm pulsing in Chaucer's words." (AudioFile)
"Ackroyd has set the bar very high." (Booklist)
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Story
There is a Bronze Age trackway below the Isle of Dogs, Anglo-Saxon graves rest under St. Pauls, and the monastery of Whitefriars lies beneath Fleet Street. To go under London is to penetrate history, and Ackroyd's book is filled with the stories unique to this underworld: the hydraulic device used to lower bodies into the catacombs in Kensal Green cemetery; the door in the plinth of the statue of Boadicea on Westminster Bridge that leads to a huge tunnel packed with cables for gas, water, and telephone; the sulphurous fumes on the Underground's Metropolitan Line.
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Enjoyable listen, wish it was longer
- By M. Denis on 07-09-22
By: Peter Ackroyd
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The Time Traveler's Guide to Regency Britain
- By: Ian Mortimer
- Narrated by: Ian Mortimer
- Length: 17 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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In the latest volume of his celebrated series of Time Traveler's Guides, Ian Mortimer turns to what is arguably the most-loved period in British history—the Regency, or Georgian England. A time of exuberance, thrills, frills, and unchecked bad behavior, it was perhaps the last age of true freedom before the arrival of the stifling world of Victorian morality. At the same time, it was a period of transition. Conveying the sights, sounds, and smells of the Regency period, this is history at its most exciting—the past not as something to be studied, but as lived experience.
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SKIP THIS BOOK
- By Lady Aristotle on 09-05-22
By: Ian Mortimer
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Will in the World
- How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare
- By: Stephen Greenblatt
- Narrated by: Peter Jay Fernandez
- Length: 15 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Award-winning author Stephen Greenblatt is one of the most influential literary thinkers in the world. An acclaimed interpreter of Shakespeare's works, his ideas have changed the way countless people approach the classics. Now Greenblatt's uniquely brilliant voice delivers a magnificent biography of the Bard himself.
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Politically Motivated
- By Donald on 09-29-04
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Journey to the End of the Night
- By: Louis-Ferdinand Celine
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 19 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Louis-Ferdinand Celine's revulsion and anger at what he considered the idiocy and hypocrisy of society explodes from nearly every minute of this novel. Filled with slang and obscenities and written in raw, colloquial language, Journey to the End of the Night is a literary symphony of violence, cruelty, and obscene nihilism. This book shocked most critics when it was first published in France in 1932, but quickly became a success with the public in Europe, and later in America.
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Miserable Ride with Cynic Supreme
- By W Perry Hall on 03-15-17
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The Complete Stoicism Collection
- Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, Letters from a Stoic, The Enchiridion & Discourses, On the Shortness of Life, and More
- By: Marcus Aurelius, Lucius Seneca, Epictetus .
- Narrated by: Gregory T Luzitano
- Length: 36 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Perfect for any listener who is searching for a deceptively simple yet powerful approach to life, this book offers you a source of inner strength and guidance, allowing you to enrich your life and face your challenges with a renewed level of insight.
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Great narration!
- By Alison Salley on 07-09-23
By: Marcus Aurelius, and others
What listeners say about Chaucer
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- hh
- 09-16-07
first rate
Ackroyd has given us a hearty antidote for those drunk on nostalgia for the "good ol' days." Life hasn't really changed that much through the ages and there were no "good ol' days." Writers have always had to struggle with financial, personal and political matters. The works they hand down to us are as much indebted to windows of opportunity, fickle muses and cosmic whimsy as anything else . . . but perhaps that's not so bad. Or perhaps such forces are necessary for brilliance to emerge. Certainly, this bio makes one appreciate everything that is required for good lit to be born from the bog of daily life. I dare you to listen to this book and not go squirreling into your library to re-read the Canterbury Tales and Troilus and Cressida.
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5 people found this helpful
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- P. Burns
- 11-18-23
Well done!
An interesting overview of Chaucer’s life giving much context to his writings. I enjoyed the short readings in the original followed by translation to modern English. Well written and well performed.
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