In recent months I’ve written, both here and in my newsletter (see below) about books being banned and burned. In Mass., USA, Homer’s Odyssey has been banned, while here in the UK Michael Morpego has decided not to include The Merchant of Venice in his book of Shakespeare stories because of its antisemitism.
Just in case you were thinking that there must be some areas of English Literature that are safe from this sort of thing, the University of Leicester in the UK has announced a consultation to look into the possibility of ditching Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and other classic texts, such as Beowulf, from its Eng LIt course.
On the subject of Chaucer, there is an excellent free app concerning The Prologue. It contains the original text, and someone reading it out. The text is highlighted while the reading is going on, and it's interweaved with a modern translation. It also has articles about The Prologue. Here’s the link for the android version:
And here’s the Apple version:
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