The Miller’s Tale by Chaucer

The miller’s tale is one of Chaucer’s most beloved and ingenious stories. A new book tells the story of how it has been adapted and retold through the centuries

The Lives of the Miller’s Tale. 
The Roots, Composition and Retellings of Chaucer’s Bawdy Story
By 

Peter G. Beidler
McFarland Books 2015
Print ISBN: 978-0-7864-9393-7
Ebook ISBN: 978-1-4766-1828-9
49  2015

ABSTRACT:

With his Miller’s Tale, Chaucer transformed a colorless Middle Dutch account into the lively, dramatic story of raunchy Nicholas, sexy Alison, foolish John and squeamish Absolon. This book focuses on the ways Chaucer made his narrative more effective through dialogue, scene division, music, visual effects and staging. The author pays special attention to the description of John the carpenter’s house, the suspension of the three tubs from the beams, and the famous shot-window through which the story’s bawdy climax is enacted.

The book’s second half covers more than 30 of the tale’s retellings—translations, adaptations, bowdlerized versions for children, coloring books, novels, musicals, plays and films—and examines the ways the retellers have followed Chaucer in dramatizing the story, giving it new life on stage and screen. The Miller’s Tale has had many lives—it promises to have many more.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

• Preface: A Whiter Shade of Pale  1
• Introduction: Dramatizing the Miller’s Tale  3

Part One: Chaucer’s Transformation of the Miller’s Tale

• Origins  9
• Four Genres  15
• Seeing and Hearing  30
• Comedic Realism  38
• The Structure of John’s House  48
• The ­Shot-Window  60
• Reconstructing John’s House  81
• People and Props  87
• The ­Pre-Bedroom Sequence  93
• The Bedroom Sequence  108

Part Two: Modern Transformations of the Miller’s Tale

• Early Retellings for Adults: Cobb (1712), Smith (1713), Anonymous (1791)  125
• Early Retellings for Young Readers: Johnstone (1895), Darton (1904), Farjeon (1930)  132
• Later Retellings for Adults: Clarke (1870), Haweis (1887), Raffel (2008), Ackroyd (2009)  138
• Later Retellings for Young Readers: McCaughrean (1984), Hastings (1988)  145
• In the Modern Missouri Ozarks: Milburn (1956)  151
• In Coloring Books and Cartoons: Adkins (1973), Lorenz (1981), Williams (2007), Chwast (2011)  169
• In Musical Performance: Starkie (1968), Pickering (1988), Brinkman (2006)  183
• In Theatrical Performance: Woods (1974), Wengrow (1983), Riley (1998), O’Connor (2001), Price (2002), Poulton (2005)  195
• In Filmic Performance: Pasolini (1972), Myerson (2000), Bowker (2003)  217
• In San Francisco and Southwark: Miller (2014), Machin (2014)  227
• Chapter Notes  251
• Bibliography  267
• Index  273

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Peter G. Beidler, a professor emeritus at Lehigh University, has published widely on British and American life and literature. He lives in Seattle, Washington.