谁能告诉我作品《坎特伯雷故事集》的英文简介

谁能告诉我作品《坎特伯雷故事集》的英文简介
谁能告诉我作品《坎特伯雷故事集》的英文简介

谁能告诉我作品《坎特伯雷故事集》的英文简介
The original plan:
Chaucer originally planed to write 120 stories, 2 for each pilgrim to tell on the way to Canterbury and 2 more on the way back. But he actually completed only 22, though there are 2 more existed in fragments. The work was probably first conceived in 1386, when Chaucer was living in Greenwich, some miles east of London. From his house he might have been able to see the pilgrim road that led toward the shrine of the famous English saint, Thomas a Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury who was murdered in his cathedral in 1170. Medieval pilgrims were notorious tale tellers, and the sight and sound of the bands riding toward Canterbury may well have suggested to Chaucer the idea of using a fictitious pilgrimage as a "frame" for a number of stories. This practice was common in the later period of the Middle Ages. Boccaccio had told 100 tales in his Decameron, each of the ten characters told a story a day for ten days. Another Italian, Gioanni Sercambi, had placed a series of stories in the mouth of the leader of a group of persons journeying on horseback. But it seems that Chaucer was unaware of the Italian precedents; his artistic exploitation of the device is altogether his own.
The structure:
The Canterbury Tales is not merely a collection of stories strung together by some loose thread, as was the general practice for some European writers of the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance to assemble a rather large group of tales into a single work of some magnitude, but Chaucer creates in the "General Prologue" a whole gallery of vivid characters from all walks of life and then assigns to each of them some appropriate tale shedding light on the respective narrator's distinctive personality, and then in the separate "prologues" to some of the tales, and in the "links" that link up some of the tales, the author makes further efforts to show the interplay between the characters as well as their respective traits and idiosyncrasies. Thus the total effect of the poem as a whole is a comprehensive picture of the social reality of the poet's day, especially since the pilgrims portrayed include men and women of all different professions, the high and the low, the lay and the clerical, the learned and the ignorant, the roguish and the upright, all excepting the very highest (i.e. the king and the top nobility) and lowest (i.e. the very poor laboring folk) in social rank at the time.
Characters included are:
(1) the monastic orders which include a rich monk, a friar, a prioress with her chaplain, a nun and three priests; (2) the secular clergy which include a parson, a pardoner and a summoner, to be joined by a canon and his yeoman devoted to alchemy; (3)the upper rung on the social ladder includes a knight, a squire, and a yeoman, a wealthy franklin, a doctor, a lawyer, and an Oxford scholar; (4) the trade which is represented by a merchant and a shipman; (5) the burgesses or freemen which include a haberdasher, a carpenter, a weaver, a dyer, a tapestry-maker, a cook, and the Wife of Bath; (6) the rural dwellers which include a miller, a reeve, a manciple and a plowman.
The merits
The merits of the 24 tales are of unequal merits. Taken as a whole they represent practically the whole range of literary genres in medieval and early Renaissance Europe, embracing minstrelcy, chivalric romances, fabliaux, lays, legends, legendary epic sagas, animal epics, mythology, moral allegories and sermons. Though Chaucer did not always succeed in his experiments with all the different popular literary media of the day, he certainly had wide interest in numerous literary traditions and innovations not alone in England but also on the Continent of Europe.
【内容介绍】
乔叟的《坎特伯雷故事集》不是第一本短篇小说集,甚至让一群人中每人讲一个故事这种形式也不是什么新主意.在卜伽丘的《十日谈》中就有十个人,为了躲避1348年在佛罗伦萨肆虐的温疫逃到城郊的庄园.他们就是通过讲故事来消磨时间的. 《坎特伯雷故事集》中也有一群人,每个人讲述一个故事.我们不仅对故事本身感兴趣,而且对讲述故事的人也感兴趣.他们中的每个人都是真实的.乔叟在引言中把他们一一作了介绍.然后,我们又在故事中与他们相识.很快,我们就觉得对他们每个人都有所了解.
乔叟(约1343—1400) 英国诗人.伦敦酒商的儿子.十几岁起进入宫廷当差.1359年随爱德华三世的部队远征法国,被法军俘虏,不久赎回.乔叟与宫廷往来密切,当过廷臣、关税督察、肯特郡的治安法官、郡下议院议员.他曾因外交事务出使许多国家和地区,到过比利时、法国、意大利等国,有机会遇见薄伽丘与彼特拉克,这对他的文学创作产生了很大的影响.乔叟在庇护者失宠期间,被剥夺了官位和年金,经济拮据.他曾写过打油诗《致空囊》给刚登基的亨利四世,申诉自己的贫穷.1400年乔叟逝世,安葬在伦敦威斯敏特斯教堂的“诗人之角”.
乔叟的诗歌创作分为三个时期：
①法国影响时期(1359—1372)：主要翻译并仿效法国诗人的作品,创作了《悼公爵夫人》,用伦敦方言翻译了法国中世纪长篇叙事诗《玫瑰传奇》等.
②意大利影响时期(1372—1386)：诗人接触了资产阶级人文主义的进步思想.这一时期的创作如《百鸟会议》、《特罗伊勒斯和克莱西德》、《好女人的故事》,反映了作者面向生活现实的创作态度和人文主义观点.
③成熟时期(1386—1400)：乔叟在这最后15年里从事《坎特伯雷故事集》的创作.无论在内容和技巧上都达到他创作的顶峰.他首创的英雄双韵体为以后的英国诗人所广泛采用,被誉为“英国诗歌之父”.
《坎特伯雷故事集》内容提要
4月的一天,一群香客去坎特伯雷朝圣,投宿在泰巴旅店.次日,店主、香客与在此住宿的作者一起出发.店主提议在去坎特伯雷的路上每人讲两个故事,回来时再讲两个,被大家公认为最佳的讲故事者可以在回来时白吃一顿丰盛的晚餐.乔叟只完成计划中120个故事中的24个(包括两个未完成的),其中22个为诗体,两个散文体.每个故事前均有开场语,全书有一个总序.作者用这种方式把各个零散故事连成一体.
《坎特伯雷故事集》有几点值得注意：
一、它展现了广阔的社会画面.香客来自社会各个阶层：骑士、僧侣、学者、律师、商人、手工业者、自耕农、磨坊主等.
二、它综合采用了中世纪的各种文学体裁,有骑士传奇、圣徒传、布道文、寓言等.
三、总序和开场白中对人物的描写和故事本身饶有趣味,充满幽默感.
四、语言带上了讲述人自身的特征,每人所讲的故事都体现出讲述人的身份、趣味、爱好、职业和生活经验.
《坎特伯雷故事集》之女尼的教士的故事(梗概)
公鸡腔得克利与7只母鸡住在一位克勤克俭的寡妇院子里.一天凌晨,公鸡从噩梦中惊醒.他梦见一只野兽潜伏在草丛里伺机要咬死他.他最宠爱的母鸡帕特立特讥笑他胆小如鼠,认为男子汉大丈夫应该敢于蔑视一切,有胆有识,劝他不必把梦放在心上.可公鸡举了很多例子说明,人在遭恶运之前都曾在梦中得到预兆.比如：有两人因找不到旅店,一人不得不投宿牛棚.夜里,另一人两次梦见宿牛棚的朋友向他求救.他未加理会.第三次做梦时,朋友告诉他自己已被贪图金钱的马夫谋害,恳请他第二天清早拦住一辆粪车,他的尸体就藏在粪车底层.事实果然证实了梦中的景象.后来谋杀者被揭露并受绞刑.又如：有两人要乘船远航,因为风向不对,被迫耽误一天.就在这天夜里,其中一人梦中得到警告：第二天不要出海,否则会淹死.他的同伴听后不以为然,坚持动身.后来果然遇难.公鸡说完这些可怕的事情,又自我宽慰了一番.等天一亮,他如平日一样与母鸡们觅食寻欢,早把昨夜的担惊受怕抛在脑后.突然间,他发现躲在草丛里的狐狸,不禁大惊失色.正要拔腿逃跑,狐狸叫住他,说自己是专门来欣赏公鸡的歌声的.一番奉承话说得公鸡心花怒放.他刚摆好姿势准备引吭高歌,狐狸冲上前咬住他的颈项,急步向窝奔去.母鸡们慌乱的哭叫声引来了寡妇和她的两个女儿.众人带着棍棒协力追赶.公鸡见状,对狐狸耍了个花招,从他嘴里挣扎出来,侥幸地逃脱了厄运.
故事赏析
这是一篇动物寓言.它以独特的体裁和风趣幽默的语言吸引读者,体现了《坎特伯雷故事集》的艺术特色.
这篇寓言故事出自一位供奉神职的教士之口.故事讲叙人旁征博引,在不长的篇幅中引用各类古籍、《圣经》和传说中的典故达20余处之多,熨帖自然,引入入胜.故事除了按传统的结构法在结尾点明寓意之外,还在讲叙过程中见缝插针,不失时机地加入警句.例如,在转述公鸡所讲的谋财害命的故事时,教士情不自禁说道：“啊,上帝,您是多么圣明公正／谋杀尽管无人知晓,您会将它揭露／……尽管它藏上一年、两年或三年／谋杀终会暴露……”这种布道式的语气在文中随处可见,成了铺叙故事时一个不可或缺的构成因素,产生了独特的艺术效果.读者在欣赏故事的同时,可以从布道式的语气中清楚地意识到讲叙人的教士身份.这种个性化的语言恰恰是《坎特伯雷故事集》艺术魅力长存的关键之一.
除去讲述者个性分明外,故事也展示了作者驾驭语言的才能.公鸡腔得克利骄傲自大、目空一切,俨然以一方之主的姿态昂首阔步,但又生性胆怯、疑神疑鬼.他喜欢别人对他阿谀奉承,容易受骗上当.他时而高谈阔论,似乎能洞察一切；时而又唠唠叨叨,唯恐恶运临头；时而敏感,时而愚钝.母鸡帕特立特也颇具个性.她的言谈风度仿佛是位备受宠爱的太太.话语尖刻锋利,十分任性,但对自己的丈夫又是一往情深.通过富有个性的语言,作者活灵活现地展示了这一对性格迥异却又趣味相投的公鸡母鸡的身影.
《坎特伯雷故事集》的幽默讥讽的特色在此也得到了生动的体现.教士用学者的口吻讲话,或者搬弄华丽的词藻,或者一本正经地引经据典,讲叙的却仅仅是一个关于公鸡、母鸡、狐狸的动物故事,传达的只是街头巷尾的琐闻.这种气势和内容的脱节,产生了一种幽默、滑稽的艺术效果.例如公鸡趾高气扬的神态在狐狸面前一扫而光；狐狸狡猾地诱使公鸡上当,而自己又不免同样被骗；公鸡、母鸡在言谈中显露出一副贵公子、贵夫人的气派,而在行动中又难免现出家禽的本色.乔叟正是通过这种事物本质与表象、内容与形式之间的问离,巧妙地制造了笼罩全篇的幽默滑稽的喜剧气氛.
假如我们将这篇故事放在文艺复兴曙光初露的大背景上观照的话,不难发现无论是个性化的语言还是喜剧式的效果都被点染上了人文主义的思想光彩.“妙相庄严”的教士自然改不了他的职业习惯,而救人脱离苦海的布道却蜕变为插科打诨式的动物寓言；上帝、教义之类当然仍是教士念念不忘的法宝,而故事却全然不顾宗教的庄严肃穆,透出一片人间的盎然情趣,归结为尘俗世界的生活格言：该睁眼时莫闭眼,该缄默时勿开口.
这种重世俗、重现世的人文主义思想的流露也为这篇风格瑰丽、意趣盎然的动物寓言添上了意味隽永的一笔.
附【目录】
前言
引言
在泰巴德客栈
骑士的故事
派拉蒙和阿赛特
学者的故事
逆来顺受的格丽西达
巴斯太太的故事
女人最大的欲望是什么?
赦罪僧的故事
三个寻找‘死亡’的人
自由农的故事
三个承诺
游乞僧的故事
教会差役和魔鬼
女尼的教士的故事
公鸡羌得克立和狐狸
《坎特伯雷故事集》是英国作家乔叟的小说.作品描写一群香客聚集在伦敦一家小旅店里,准备去坎特伯雷城朝圣.店主人建议香客们在往返途中各讲两个故事,看谁讲的最好.故事集包括了23个故事,其中最精彩的故事有：骑士讲的爱情悲剧故事、巴斯妇讲的骑士的故事、卖赎罪券者讲的劝世寓言故事、教士讲的动物寓言故事、商人讲的家庭纠纷的故事、农民讲的感人的爱情和慷慨义气行为的故事.作品广泛地反映了资本主义萌芽时期的英国社会生活,揭露了教会的腐败、教士的贪婪和伪善,谴责了扼杀人性的禁欲主义,肯定了世俗的爱情生活.
《坎特伯雷故事集》的艺术成就很高,远远超过了以前同时代的英国文学作品,是英国文学史上现实主义的第一部典范.作品将幽默和讽刺结合,喜剧色彩浓厚,其中大多数故事用双韵诗体写成,对后来的英国文学产生了影响.人物形象鲜明,语言生动活泼.乔叟用富有生命力的伦敦方言进行创作,也为英国文学语言奠定了基础.他首创的英雄双韵体为以后的英国诗人所广泛采用,因而乔叟被誉为“英国诗歌之父”.