The Clerkenwell Tales

Rating:
Summary: For the literati, a mighty tasty bit of a tome
Review: It's 1399; do you know where your Chaucer is? Ackroyd borrows both form and characters but puts them to different tasks. Who knew (I guess I should have) that the Puritan concept (also Presbyterian) of predestination actually had its roots in an intense debate within The Church in the 13th and 14th centuries. Wonderfully written and enjoyable. E.g., Part of the secret tunnels that connected the Clerkenwell cloister to the priory of St. John of Jerusalem now can be seen in the basement of the Marx Memorial Library at 37a Clerkenwell Green, London. Who says history doesn't have a sense of humor?

Rating:
Summary: The Canterbury Tales with a twist
Review: Peter Ackroyd draws on Chaucer's Canterbury Tales to tell a tale of suspense and intrigue in late-14th century London. The characters are all Chaucer's, but Ackroyd chooses to display them in a much different light.

In the 14th century, there was much dissention in the church. The advent of the Black Death earlier in the century had changed people's belief systems. While most of England remained Catholic, there were many people who wanted to break away from the Church. One of these groups was the Lollards, declared heretics for their liberal views on religion. In this book, there is a group of people who want to rock the foundations of the church to its core, and the burning of churches in London is ascribed to the Lollards. The fictional story also includes the mad prophesies of a nun called Clarice.

Like the Canterbury Tales, the Clerkenwell Tales have a structure, though the vignettes are in a different order than the original Tales. Ackroyd does a great job of discussing each character in great detail, adding on to what we know of the characters from Chaucer. While Ackroyd does not stick with the genres of the Canterbury Tales (ie fabliau, romance, etc), he does give his reader a peak at another aspect of medieval English life: the mystery plays, or the stories of the Bible as performed by the members of the town's trade guilds. Ackroyd does a fantastic job of pulling bits and peieces of medieval English life together in one coherent whole.

Rating:
Summary: veritable time-travel
Review: the author has created a delightful, pensive, historical fiction whose genesis is Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales." This 213-page opus is recommended to all medievalists, early-renaissance lectors and avid readers of English history. If one enjoys "The Canterbury Tales" one should find pleasant satisfaction in this delicious re-creation.