The Canterbury tales

The task of adapting Geoffrey Chaucer's timeless classic of mediaeval literature into a graphic novel may seem like an impossible undertaking.


In rich and rhythmic Middle English, Chaucer's original 14th-century magnum opus follows the sojourn taken by 24 pilgrims to the Canterbury Cathedral. They decide to organise a story-telling contest to while away the time spent on the road.

Chaucer himself takes on the rather metaphysical role of an omniscient narrator; his colorful observations of human nature are peppered with ribald humor. Not a single pilgrim is spared, from the nun to the knight.
So illustrator and designer Seymour Chwast's bold adaptation of the Tales may come as something of a shock to purists.

Chwast has taken each of Chaucer's tales and pared them down to their bare bones. He has done away with Middle English, choosing to imbue his characters' speech with a more modern vernacular - 'Hey babe, let's party'.


Some of these modern references, coupled with the fact that all the pilgrims are riding motorbikes together like a displaced biker gang, seem a tad out of place with the mediaeval setting, but they add to the general sense of the bizarre that the book is so deeply ensconced in.

With a sort of maniacal glee, Chwast outlines each of Chaucer's characters with simple, almost childlike strokes. His panels have hardly any perspective, emulating the flatter, more two-dimensional paintings of the Renaissance era. The black and white action filling up each page can be mildly confusing at times - one hardly knows where panels begin and end, and characters begin to blend into one another because of their lack of defining characteristics.

Chwast keeps the tone light and irreverent, and his drawings crass with bosoms, copulation, and beheadings galore.

But the stories begin to get a little repetitive because they have been shorn of all the meaty asides and biting, incisive wit that made Chaucer's collection so compelling - the tales are not just a collection of politically incorrect caricatures.

While this is a refreshing re-look at the tales, I think Chaucer's words lost more than just one dimension in translation. The Canterbury Tales, and Other Poems