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The Canterbury Tales
- Penguin Classics
- Narrated by: Lesley Manville, Daniel Weyman, Derek Jacobi, Seroca Davis, Jay Bernard, Michael Balogun, Roy McMillan
- Length: 16 hrs and 44 mins
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Shakespeare: The Complete Works
- Argo Classics
- Written by: William Shakespeare
- Narrated by: Ian McKellen, Derek Jacobi, Diana Rigg, and others
- Length: 98 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
All of the Shakespeare plays within the Argo Classics catalogue are performed by the Marlowe Dramatic Society and Professional Players. The Marlowe was founded in 1907 with a mission to focus on effective delivery of verse, respect the integrity of texts and rescue neglected plays by Shakespeare’s contemporaries and the less performed plays of Shakespeare himself. The Marlowe has performed annually at Cambridge Arts Theatre since its opening in 1936 and continues to produce some of the finest actors of their generations.
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Some serious Errors in Release
- By Michael Legedza on 2021-08-06
Written by: William Shakespeare
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The Divine Comedy
- Penguin Classics
- Written by: Robin Kirkpatrick - translator, Dante Alighieri
- Narrated by: Jot Davies, Robin Kirkpatrick, Kristin Atherton
- Length: 17 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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The Divine Comedy describes Dante's descent into Hell with Virgil as a guide, his ascent of Mount Purgatory and his encounter with his dead love Beatrice, and finally, his arrival in Heaven. Examining questions of faith, desire and enlightenment, the poem is a brilliantly nuanced and moving allegory of human redemption. This major translation is published here for the first time in a single volume.
Written by: Robin Kirkpatrick - translator, and others
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Metamorphoses
- Penguin Classics
- Written by: Ovid, David Raeburn - translator, Denis Feeney
- Narrated by: Martin Jarvis, John Sackville, Maya Saroya, and others
- Length: 18 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Ovid's sensuous and witty poetry brings together a dazzling array of mythological tales, ingeniously linked by the idea of transformation - often as a result of love or lust - where men and women find themselves magically changed into new and sometimes extraordinary beings. Beginning with the creation of the world and ending with the deification of Augustus, Ovid interweaves many of the best-known myths and legends of Ancient Greece and Rome, including Daedalus and Icarus, Pyramus and Thisbe, Pygmalion, Perseus and Andromeda, and the fall of Troy.
Written by: Ovid, and others
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Paradise Lost & Paradise Regained
- Written by: John Milton
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 16 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Paradise Lost, along with its companion piece, Paradise Regained, remain the most successful attempts at Greco-Roman style epic poetry in the English language. Remarkably enough, they were written near the end of John Milton's amazing life, a bold testimonial to his mental powers in old age. And, since he had gone completely blind in 1652, 15 years prior to Paradise Lost, he dictated it and all his other works to his daughter.
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Great insight
- By Edmund Reinhardt on 2020-08-08
Written by: John Milton
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Histories
- Written by: Herodotus
- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 27 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In this, the first prose history in European civilization, Herodotus describes the growth of the Persian Empire with force, authority, and style. Perhaps most famously, the book tells the heroic tale of the Greeks' resistance to the vast invading force assembled by Xerxes, king of Persia. Here are not only the great battles - Marathon, Thermopylae, and Salamis - but also penetrating human insight and a powerful sense of epic destiny at work.
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Entertaining
- By scottrs on 2018-11-16
Written by: Herodotus
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Paradise Lost
- Written by: John Milton
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
John Milton's Paradise Lost is one of the greatest epic poems in the English language. It tells the story of the Fall of Man, a tale of immense drama and excitement, of rebellion and treachery, of innocence pitted against corruption, in which God and Satan fight a bitter battle for control of mankind's destiny.
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Favourite book ever
- By Taylor Sierra on 2023-01-27
Written by: John Milton
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Shakespeare: The Complete Works
- Argo Classics
- Written by: William Shakespeare
- Narrated by: Ian McKellen, Derek Jacobi, Diana Rigg, and others
- Length: 98 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
All of the Shakespeare plays within the Argo Classics catalogue are performed by the Marlowe Dramatic Society and Professional Players. The Marlowe was founded in 1907 with a mission to focus on effective delivery of verse, respect the integrity of texts and rescue neglected plays by Shakespeare’s contemporaries and the less performed plays of Shakespeare himself. The Marlowe has performed annually at Cambridge Arts Theatre since its opening in 1936 and continues to produce some of the finest actors of their generations.
-
-
Some serious Errors in Release
- By Michael Legedza on 2021-08-06
Written by: William Shakespeare
-
The Divine Comedy
- Penguin Classics
- Written by: Robin Kirkpatrick - translator, Dante Alighieri
- Narrated by: Jot Davies, Robin Kirkpatrick, Kristin Atherton
- Length: 17 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Divine Comedy describes Dante's descent into Hell with Virgil as a guide, his ascent of Mount Purgatory and his encounter with his dead love Beatrice, and finally, his arrival in Heaven. Examining questions of faith, desire and enlightenment, the poem is a brilliantly nuanced and moving allegory of human redemption. This major translation is published here for the first time in a single volume.
Written by: Robin Kirkpatrick - translator, and others
-
Metamorphoses
- Penguin Classics
- Written by: Ovid, David Raeburn - translator, Denis Feeney
- Narrated by: Martin Jarvis, John Sackville, Maya Saroya, and others
- Length: 18 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ovid's sensuous and witty poetry brings together a dazzling array of mythological tales, ingeniously linked by the idea of transformation - often as a result of love or lust - where men and women find themselves magically changed into new and sometimes extraordinary beings. Beginning with the creation of the world and ending with the deification of Augustus, Ovid interweaves many of the best-known myths and legends of Ancient Greece and Rome, including Daedalus and Icarus, Pyramus and Thisbe, Pygmalion, Perseus and Andromeda, and the fall of Troy.
Written by: Ovid, and others
-
Paradise Lost & Paradise Regained
- Written by: John Milton
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 16 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Paradise Lost, along with its companion piece, Paradise Regained, remain the most successful attempts at Greco-Roman style epic poetry in the English language. Remarkably enough, they were written near the end of John Milton's amazing life, a bold testimonial to his mental powers in old age. And, since he had gone completely blind in 1652, 15 years prior to Paradise Lost, he dictated it and all his other works to his daughter.
-
-
Great insight
- By Edmund Reinhardt on 2020-08-08
Written by: John Milton
-
Histories
- Written by: Herodotus
- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 27 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this, the first prose history in European civilization, Herodotus describes the growth of the Persian Empire with force, authority, and style. Perhaps most famously, the book tells the heroic tale of the Greeks' resistance to the vast invading force assembled by Xerxes, king of Persia. Here are not only the great battles - Marathon, Thermopylae, and Salamis - but also penetrating human insight and a powerful sense of epic destiny at work.
-
-
Entertaining
- By scottrs on 2018-11-16
Written by: Herodotus
-
Paradise Lost
- Written by: John Milton
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
John Milton's Paradise Lost is one of the greatest epic poems in the English language. It tells the story of the Fall of Man, a tale of immense drama and excitement, of rebellion and treachery, of innocence pitted against corruption, in which God and Satan fight a bitter battle for control of mankind's destiny.
-
-
Favourite book ever
- By Taylor Sierra on 2023-01-27
Written by: John Milton
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Tom Jones
- Written by: Henry Fielding
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 37 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Tom Jones is a splendid Hogarthian panorama of 18th century English life and morals, encompassing both city and country, and comprising some of the greatest comic characters in British literature. First published in 1749, it was an instant success and has gone on to become a classic of its genre. Quite simply, there has never been anything like it.
Written by: Henry Fielding
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The Mahabharata
- Written by: John D. Smith - translator
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The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India. It is of immense importance to the culture of the Indian subcontinent and is a major text of Hinduism. Its discussion of human goals (artha or 'purpose', kama or 'pleasure', dharma or 'duty' and moksha or 'liberation') takes place in a long-standing tradition, attempting to explain the relationship of the individual to society and the world (the nature of the 'self') and the workings of karma.
Written by: John D. Smith - translator
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The Aeneid
- Written by: Virgil
- Narrated by: Simon Callow
- Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
The publication of a new translation by Fagles is a literary event. His translations of both the Iliad and Odyssey have sold hundreds of thousands of copies and have become the standard translations of our era. Now, with this stunning modern verse translation, Fagles has reintroduced Virgil's Aeneid to a whole new generation, and completed the classical triptych at the heart of Western civilization.
Written by: Virgil
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Beowulf
- Written by: Seamus Heaney - translator
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 4 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
Written a thousand years ago, this long poem is the very first surviving piece of English literature. Join Beowulf, a young warrior, as he achieves glory by fighting and killing three fantastic monsters. This new translation, by the Nobel laureate poet Seamus Heaney, offers modern listeners an accessible, intensely dramatic text. It amply demonstrates why this epic has spread its influence over more than a millennium of literature.
Written by: Seamus Heaney - translator
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Celtic Mythology
- Tales of Gods, Goddesses, and Heroes
- Written by: Philip Freeman
- Narrated by: Gerard Doyle
- Length: 7 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Most people have heard of the Celts - the elusive, ancient tribal people who resided in present-day England, Ireland, Scotland and France. Paradoxically characterized as both barbaric and innocent, the Celts appeal to the modern world as a symbol of a bygone era, a world destroyed by the ambition of empire and the spread of Christianity throughout Western Europe. Despite the pervasive cultural and literary influence of the Celts, shockingly little is known of their way of life and beliefs, because very few records of their stories exist.
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Amazing book on Irish Mythology
- By Rob Edward on 2020-04-13
Written by: Philip Freeman
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The Iliad
- Written by: Homer, Robert Fagles - translator
- Narrated by: Derek Jacobi, Maria Tucci
- Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins
- Abridged
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Story
Dating to the ninth century BC, Homer’s timeless poem still vividly conveys the horror and heroism of men and gods wrestling with towering emotions and battling amidst devastation and destruction, as it moves inexorably to the wrenching, tragic conclusion of the Trojan War. Renowned classicist Bernard Knox observes in his superb Introduction that although the violence of the Iliad is grim and relentless, it coexists with both images of civilized life and a poignant yearning for peace.
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Disappointed that it doesn't follow the text
- By Karen Godin on 2020-09-24
Written by: Homer, and others
Publisher's Summary
Brought to you by Penguin.
This Penguin Classic is performed by Lesley Manville (winner of the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress and known for Phantom Thread and Mum), Derek Jacobi (winner of the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor and known for Gladiator and Gosford Park), Michael Balogun (known for National Theatre Live: Macbeth), Jay Bernard (writer of Surge, artist, film programmer and activist), Seroca Davis (known for Prime Suspect and Doctor Who), Daniel Weyman (winner of Audiobook Narrator of the Year at the Audio Production Awards 2016 and known for Gentleman Jack and A Very English Scandal) and Roy McMillan (winner of an Earphone Award for narration on Conclave and award-winning producer).
This definitive recording is translated by, and includes an Introduction by Nevill Coghill.
In The Canterbury Tales Chaucer created one of the great touchstones of English literature, a masterly collection of chivalric romances, moral allegories and low farce. A story-telling competition between a group of pilgrims from all walks of life is the occasion for a series of tales that range from the Knight's account of courtly love and the ebullient Wife of Bath's Arthurian legend, to the ribald anecdotes of the Miller and the Cook.
What listeners say about The Canterbury Tales
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Adam Phillips
- 2021-08-28
Language Barrier
Please learn Latin before reading this book. Chaucer uses many Latin phrases and vocabularies such as dominion and nominae.
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- Kindle Customer
- 2022-10-21
Great translation but a pity about the reading.
An excellent rendering into modern English. However, the reading is variable and sometimes so bad that it interferes with one's enjoyment.