This book and its author definitely raised a lot of eyebrows once it was published. “The Canterbury Tales” raised a fist up to the Church and its many ‘offspring.’ Geoffrey Chaucer wrote “The Canterbury Tales” around the end of the 14th century, so this collection is one of the oldest tales on this website.
“The Canterbury Tales” is essentially a collection of stories from pilgrims traveling to the Shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral. Said best by Deep Forest Productions in their Banned Books Awareness page, “the prize being a free meal at the Tabard Inn at Southwark upon their return.” At first, the collection sounds like the start of a Monty Python film, but though it may withhold a satirical taste, it couldn’t be any further away. Readers who are interested in more of the specified content of “The Canterbury Tales” can click this link to review some of the stories within the book, by Interesting Literature.
“The Canterbury Tales” went in on churches’ ways, majorly Catholic churches,, from gender roles and sexual stereotypes, to women’s rights and points that are incredibly relevant in today’s society. As DFP states, there is even a point in “The Canterbury Tales” that depict women as ‘prisoners of war.’
Oh, What A Nice Book. Hope They Don’t Ban It!
Of course, with all of the seemingly translucent events held around the church, the churches and their officials immediately challenged and attacked the book as best as they could. Colonial authorities would censor the book from newly arriving citizens to their lands, and of course churches would attempt to eradicate the book to keep it out the hands of citizens. In 1873, the book was even banned from being mailed by the United States Postal Service due to the Comstock Law. In Florida more recently in time, the book was burned away from a senior college course because of its sexual content. According to DFP, “some parents found it inappropriate. for students.” In America, the book was one of the several books to be completely banned at a time. Anyone can tell that “The Canterbury Tales” really hit a nerve within political and church persons in power.
Read It!
The book is amazingly written by Chaucer, and the satire sense that he leaves within his writings make the ‘pills’ go down easier. In complete dirt-honesty, the book really highlights some problematic situations in society that too many people let slide. It’s definitely worth a read, as readers can simply just read one entry at a time, rather than having to take in the entire book.
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