The Prologue
The Knight's Tale
The Miller's Tale
The Pardoner's Tale
The Merchant's Tale
The Franklin's Tale
Chaucer's greatest work, written towards the end of the fourteenth century, paints a brilliant picture of medieval life, society and values. The stories range from the romantic, courtly idealism of The Knight's Tale to the joyous bawdy of The Miller's; all are told with a freshness and vigour in this modern verse translation that make them a delight to hear.
The Canterbury Tales, written near the end of Chaucer's life and hence towards the close of the fourteenth century, Is perhaps the greatest English literary work of the Middle Ages: yet it speaks to us today with almost undimmed clarity and relevance.
Chaucer imagines a group of twenty-nine pilgrims who meet in the Tabard Inn in Southwark, intent on making the traditional journey to the martyr's shrine of St Thomas a Becket in Canterbury. Harry Bailly landlord of the Tabard, proposes that the company should entertain themselves on the road with a storytelling competition. The teller of the best tale will be rewarded with a supper at the others' expense when the travellers return to London. Chaucer never completed this elaborate scheme - each pilgrim was supposed to tell four tales, but in fact we only have twenty-four altogether - yet, with the pieces of linking narrative and the prologues to each tale, the work as a whole constitutes a marvellously varied evocation of the medieval world which also goes beyond its period to penetrate (humorously, gravely tolerantly) human nature itself.
Chaucer, as a member of this company of pilgrims, presents himself with mock innocence as the admiring observer of his fellows, depicted in the General Prologue. Many of these are clearly rogues - the coarse, cheating Miller, the repulsive yet compelling Pardoner - yet in each of them Chaucer finds something human, often a sheer vitality or love of life which is irresistible: the Monk may prefer hunting to prayer, but he is after all a manly man, to be an abbot able. Perhaps only the unassuming, devoted Parson and his humbly labouring brother the Ploughman rise entirely above Chaucer's teasing irony; certainly the Parson's fellow clergy and religious officers belong to a Church riddled with gross corruption. Everyone, it seems, is on the make, in a world still recovering from the ravages of the Black Death.
Written By : M. R. JAMES
DAVID COLLINGS
Craftsman Audio Books
Runtime : 4 hours 43 minutes
Categories : Horror & Suspense Classics Short Stories
Our Price : $23.75
Critically-acclaimed recordings, in 4 parts, that bring together for the first time, the complete ghost stories of the undisputed master of the genre, M. R. James. More info...
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Written By : Alan Bennett
Alan Bennett
BBC Audiobooks Ltd
Runtime : 3 hours 25 minutes
Categories : Short Stories Comedy Fiction Humor Humor
Our Price : $22.25
This collection of six Individual portraits from the master of the monologue are Darker and more intense than the first collection, these six stories uncover the secrets behind ordinary suburban lives More info...
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Written By : Various
Full Cast Production
Listen & Live
Runtime : 6 hours
Categories : Short Stories Horror & Suspense Horror & Suspense Horror & Suspense Crime
Our Price : $24.95 $16.25
A wonderful compilation of chilling stories about the things that terrify us most. Don't listen in the dark! More info...
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Written By : Unknown
Don DuBose
Immortal Audio
Runtime : 3 minutes
Categories : Horror & Suspense Horror & Suspense Short Stories
Our Price : Free
A man and wife rent a room for the night....only the room burnt down years earlier More info...
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Written By : Edgar Allan Poe
Kerry Shale
Select Music & Distribution
Runtime : 4 hours 10 minutes
Categories : Classics Short Stories Detective Detective
Our Price : $18.75
Three famous Dupin stories, which provided Poe with the inspiration for Sherlock Holmes. More info...
Written By : Pete McCarthy
Narrated By : Pete McCarthy
Hodder & Stoughton Audiobooks
Length : 2 hours
Type : Autobiography Biographical Travel
Price : $16.75
The audio of the million-selling book - Pete McCarthy's hilarious journey in search of his Irish roots.
McCarthy's tale of his hilarious trip around Ireland has gained thousands of fans all over the world.
Pete was born in Warrington to an Irish mother and an English father and spent happy summer holidays in Cork. Years later, reflecting on the many places he has visited as a travel broadcaster, Pete admits that he feels more at home in Ireland than anywhere. To find out whether this is due to rose-coloured spectacles or to a deeper tie with the country of his ancestors, Pete sets off on a trip around Ireland and discovers that it has changed in surprising ways.
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