Day One Hundred and Seventy-Nine
Canterbury Tales by Chaucer Page: 607
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison Page: 300
Given the bawdiness of much of the Canterbury Tales, I was taken aback by the reverence and orthodoxy of The Parson’s Tale. And given the satirical treatment of essentially all of the characters, the gentle respect granted the Parson was refreshing. Chaucer is hilarious, broad and clever, sly and witty, but who knew he was also sunny and wholesome? The Middle English slowed me down considerably but and it was because of that that I put Chaucer down for two months in a desperate attempt to slow the decline of my daily average. I’m glad I’ve finally read all of the Tales and I’m sad that more of them aren’t assigned in Lit Survey courses. I imagine many college students could stand to hear the morals the Parson taught. Anyway, any home schoolers that have been avoiding Chaucer because of the bawdiness of the Miller’s Tale should skip the anthologies and go get a copy of the whole thing and read the final (and longest) tale and appreciate Chaucer’s righteousness.
I’m not as big a fan of Toni Morrison. That’s probably not a big surprise to those of you who know me. I didn’t like Beloved when I read it several years ago and I’m not looking forward to reading it again this year. Song of Solomon isn’t much better. The narrative holds together but the subject matter is both complex and petty, sad and dirty, and is unpleasant and disturbing. It’s depressing and I’m glad that it reads so quickly so that I can be done with it soon.