The General Prologue & the Physician's Tale Lib/E: From the Canterbury Tales

The Canterbury Tales is the most famous and acclaimed work of the late fourteenth-century poet Geoffrey Chaucer. This recording of the "General Prologue" and "The Physician's Tale" are read in the original Middle English by Richard Bebb, under the direction of a leading Chaucerian scholar, Professor Derek Brewer. It is an authoritative performance that brilliantly evokes the world of the Middles Ages both for the general reader and the student alike. This is followed by a witty modern verse translation and provides a fascinating contrast with the original.

About the Author :
Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343-1400), English poet, was the son of a London vintner. He was married and held a number of positions at court and in the king's service, including diplomat, controller of customs in the port of London, and deputy forester in the King's Forest in Somerset. He was buried in the Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey where a monument was erected to him in 1555. Richard Bebb (1927-2006) was educated at Highgate School and Trinity College in Cambridge. He became an actor in 1947 in Michael Redgrave's Macbeth and then spent two years in repertory at Buxton and Croydon. He appeared in a handful of West End plays, over a thousand broadcasts, and almost two-hundred television plays. He lectured at Yale, Harvard, Princeton, and the Smithsonian on theatrical and musical subjects. Philip Madoc's theater credits include performances in Othello, Faust, Duet for One, and the stage adaptation of Kingsley Amis' novel The Old Devils. His television roles include Sir George Fisun in A Very British Coup, Lancing in the BBC's First Born, and the title role in the BBC production of Lloyd George. Among his films are Operation Daybreak and A Mind to Kill. Michael Maloney is an actor who has appeared in numerous television productions, including as Romeo in Romeo and Juliet and Prince Hal in Henry IV, parts 1 and 2, for which he won Best Actor/Best Supporting Actor awards. His theater credits include Sleuth, Peer Gynt, and All My Sons, and his film credits include The Young Victoria and Notes on a Scandal. He has narrated numerous audiobooks, earning seven AudioFile Earphones Awards.

Review :
"This fine recording includes two versions of the same story from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, and each is equally intriguing. Richard Bebb provides the voice for the Middle English presentation...with such sincerity and skill that the unfamiliar pronunciations soon becomes lyrical to the modern ear. The early version is a fascinating contrast to the modern version, read by Philip Madoc and Michael Maloney. Madoc and Maloney are both gifted with mellifluous voices, making the modern presentation of the two works equally engaging. The CDs are accompanied by a useful set of notes about Chaucer and these works." -- "AudioFile"