A portly Miller, barely sober enough to sit on his horse, rambles on about the flighty wife of a crotchety old carpenter and the scholar she takes as her lover. To get some time alone together, the scholar and the wife play various tricks that involve feigning madness, staging a biblical flood, and exposing themselves in public. But the parish clerk is also lusting after the wife, and comes by every night to sing outside her house. This becomes so tiresome that she tries to scare him away by hanging her rear end out the window for him to kiss. When this appears not to work, her scholar decides to try farting in the same position, but this time, the clerk is waiting with a red-hot poker.
一個胖乎乎的磨坊主, 勉強清醒地坐在他的馬上, 沒完沒了的談著一個壞脾氣的老木匠 輕浮的妻子的故事。 妻子有一個學者情夫, 為了有獨處的時間, 學者和妻子耍各種花招, 比如,裝瘋, 上演聖經裡洪水的場景, 還有在公眾場合裸露身子。 一個神職人員也仰慕, 想要追求這位妻子, 他每天晚上都在妻子房前唱歌。 妻子覺得他很煩人,想要把他嚇走。 於是她把屁股挪到窗外, 讓他親她的屁股。 這個方法並沒有起作用。 學者決定把自己的屁股 挪到同樣的位置放屁。 但是這次,
This might all sound like a bawdy joke, but it’s part of one of the most esteemed works of English literature ever created: The Canterbury Tales, which seamlessly blends the lofty and the lowly. The work consists of 24 stories, each told by one of Chaucer’s spirited characters. Narrators include familiar Medieval figures such as a Knight, a Clerk, and a Nun, and the less recognizable Reeve, and Mancible, and others.
這個神職人員準備了 一根滾燙的撥火棍。 這聽起來像是 一個下流的猥瑣的笑話, 但這其實是出自英國文學史上 最受人尊敬的作品之一: 《 坎特伯里故事集 》 它無縫融合了高雅與低賤。 故事集裡, 喬叟筆下栩栩如生的人物 講述了 24 個故事。 敘事者包括熟悉的中世紀人物, 比如,騎士、 神職人員、 修女, 還有少有人知的城鎮長官, 伙食委員,
The Tales are written in Middle English, which often looks entirely different from the language spoken today. It was used between the 12th and 15th centuries, and evolved from Old English due to increased contact with European romantic languages after the Norman Conquest of 1066. Most of the Middle English alphabet is still familiar today, with the inclusion of a few archaic symbols, such as yogh, which denotes the y, j, or gh sound.
等等。 這本故事集是用中古英語寫的, 和我們今天的英語看起來完全不一樣。 這種中古語在 12 世紀 到 15 世紀被使用, 並由古英語演變而來, 這是 1066 年「諾曼征服」之後, 和歐洲羅曼語接觸增多的結果。 大部分中古英語的字母 和現在的很相似, 包含了一些古老的符號。 比如,yogh 表示 y、 j, 或者是 gh 的音。
The loquacious cast of the Tales first meet at the Tabard Inn in Southwark. They have a journey in common: a pilgrimage to Canterbury to visit the shrine of St. Thomas Beckett, a martyred archbishop who was murdered in his own Cathedral. Eager and nosy for some personal details, the host of the Inn proposes a competition: whoever tells the best tale will be treated to dinner.
故事中的講述者第一次 在薩瑟克區的泰巴旅店相遇。 他們都有同樣的征程: 去坎特伯里,訪問聖托馬斯·貝克特 埋葬之地的朝聖之旅, 這位殉道的大主教 在自己的座堂內被殺害。 這家旅店的主人, 急切地想八卦一些隱私, 提出了一個比賽的想法: 誰能講出最好的故事, 他就請誰吃飯。
If not for their pilgrimage, many of these figures would never have had the chance to interact. This is because Medieval society followed a feudal system that divided the clergy and nobility from the working classes, made up of peasants and serfs. By Chaucer’s time, a professional class of merchants and intellectuals had also emerged.
如果不是因為這次朝聖之旅, 許多人沒有機會和其他人接觸。 這是因為中世紀社會遵循封建制度, 把神職人員和貴族, 和由農民和奴隸組成的 工人階級分開來。 喬叟那個時代, 由商人和知識分子組成的 專業階層也出現了。
Chaucer spent most of his life as a government official during the Hundred Years' War, traveling throughout Italy and France, as well as his native England. This may have influenced the panoramic vision of his work, and in the Tales, no level of society is above mockery.
在英法百年戰爭時期, 喬叟一生大部分時間是政府官員, 在義大利、法國 和他的老家英格蘭奔波。 這可能就影響了他作品的全景, 在故事裡,所有階級都會被嘲笑。 喬叟利用人物語言的特點,
Chaucer uses the quirks of the characters’ language – the ribald humor of the Cook, the solemn prose of the Parson, and the lofty notions of the Squire – to satirize their worldviews. The varied dialects, genres, and literary tropes also make the work a vivid record of the different ways Medieval audiences entertained themselves. For instance, the Knight’s tale of courtly love, chivalry, and destiny riffs on romance, while the tales of working-class narrators are generally comedies filled with scatological language, sexual deviance, and slapstick.
像是廚子下流的幽默, 牧師的莊嚴散文, 地主鄉紳的崇高理念, 諷刺了他們的世界觀。 方言、流派,和文學傾向的不同, 將中世紀人們不同的娛樂方式 描繪得栩栩如生,鮮明生動。 例如,士兵所講述的典雅之愛, 騎士精神, 和命運 與浪漫愛情即興交織; 而工人階層會講一些喜劇, 用一些下流的語言, 講述異常性趣 和低俗鬧劇。 每一個人都能明白這種不同,
This variation includes something for everyone, and that’s one reason why readers continue to delight in the work in both Middle English and translation. While the narrative runs to over 17,000 lines, it's apparently unfinished, as the prologue ambitiously introduces 29 pilgrims and promises four stories apiece, and the innkeeper never crowns a victor. It’s possible that Chaucer was so caught up in his sumptuous creations that he delayed picking a winner - or perhaps he was so fond of each character that he just couldn’t choose. Whatever the reason, this means that every reader is free to judge; the question of who wins is up to you.
這就是為什麼不論是 中古英語還是翻譯版本, 人們都很喜歡這部文學作品。 雖然這個故事超過了 17000 行, 但是它顯然還沒有完結。 因為序言裡介紹了 29 位朝聖者, 並且每人都會講 4 個故事, 旅店老闆也沒有選出勝者。 可能,喬叟沉溺於豪華的創作, 以至於久久不能選出勝利者。 又或者每一個角色他都很喜歡, 所以他選不出贏家。 不論是哪一個原因, 這意味著每一個讀者都可以自己決定 誰是你心中的獲勝者。