The Canterbury Tales

by Seymour Chwast

Overview

Accompany a band of merry medieval pilgrims as they make their way-on motorcycles, of course-to Canterbury. Meeting at the Tabard Inn, the travelers, including a battle-worn knight, a sweetly pretentious prioress, the bawdy Wife of Bath, and an emaciated scholar-clerk, come up with a plan to pass time on the journey to Thomas à Becket's shrine by telling stories. The twenty-four tales, which range from high romance set in ancient Greece to low comedy in contemporary England, are adapted into graphic novel form by Seymour Chwast-a pitch-perfect transposition of Chaucer's pointed satire. Chwast's illustrations relate tales of trust and treachery, of piety and bawdiness, in an engaging style that will appeal to those who have enjoyed The Canterbury Tales for years, and those for whom this is a first, delectable introduction.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781620408520
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	12/16/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	144
File size:	30 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Seymour Chwast was born in New York City and is a graduate of The Cooper Union, where he studied illustration and graphic design. He is a founding partner of the celebrated Push Pin Studios, whose distinct style has had a worldwide influence on contemporary visual communications. In 1985 the studio's name was changed to the Pushpin Group, of which Mr. Chwast is the director. He is the author of the graphic adaptation Dante's Divine Comedy. His website is www.pushpininc.com.

Seymour Chwast was born in New York City and is a graduate of The Cooper Union, where he studied illustration and graphic design. He worked as a junior designer in the advertising department of the New York Times, then for House and Garden and Glamour magazines. He is a founding partner of the celebrated Push Pin Studios, whose distinct style has had a worldwide influence on contemporary visual communications. In 1985 the studio's name was changed to the Pushpin Group, of which Mr. Chwast is the director. He received the AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts) Medal in 1985, was inducted into the Art Directors Hall of fame and has an honorary Ph.D in Fine Art from the Parsons School of Design. His work is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and other major museums around the world. He was a visiting lecturer at art schools in New York and vice-president of the American Institute of Graphic Arts (1974-8), New York. More information about Mr. Chwast can be found at www.pushpininc.com.

Editorial Reviews

Reimagining a 14th-century masterpiece for a modern audience proves to be extremely difficult. Readers who want a very fast survey of the Tales will be satisfied, for famed designer Chwast summarizes everything, not ducking the Miller's enthusiastic bawdiness and the Prioress's pious anti-Semitism. Some of his updatings are clever: the pilgrims travel on motorbikes, and their dialogue frequently uses contemporary slang; in addition, the cartoony style and overall design sometimes work to emphasize a story's point. On the other hand, Chaucer's work hasn't lasted so much because of the tales' plots but because of the personality each pilgrim shows and the subtle way Chaucer handles the interaction of tales and tellers. Chwast's more bombastic approach creates an amusing surface, but doesn't really try to translate the substance of the original. While his bare-bones style simplifies some elements, the elements of the stories stay well-defined. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

As a follow-up of sorts to his illustratedDante's Divine Comedy(2010), graphic artist Chwast embraces a kindred spirit in Chaucer.

Though the credit reads "adapted by Seymour Chwast," "transformed" or "subverted" might be more precise. Here the pilgrims who tell the tales ride motorcycles, with the artist himself as the host and Chaucer waving from a sidecar. They spin stories of lust in which characters seduce each other with jaunty language: "Hey, babe, let's party!"; "Come here, big boy. Show me your stuff!" Yet Chwast recognizes that he is doing in large part what Chaucer did, "writing in the English vernacular of the time." As these tales comment upon and interrupt each other, Chwast aims to illustrate nothing less than the human condition, filled as it is with profound differences between men and women, romantic betrayal that barely pays lip service to monogamy, jealousy taken to lethal extremes and fables that have morals that are a little too pat for the narratives they accompany. There are plenty of beheadings, repeated bursts of flatulence and, as the cartoon Chaucer explains, action "complete with swash and buckling." There is also a cross-cultural expanse to the epic storytelling, with biblical figures, Greek gods, Roman emperors and Arabian legends all represented within this graphic condensation of Chaucer's classic into tales that are often as little as a few panels each.

Not quite the achievement that theDivine Comedywas, but a work that finds an artistic common denominator for Chaucer and Chwast.

Kirkus Reviews