Translating Chaucer’s Power Play Into Modern English And Finnish

Abstract

This chapter looks at four different translations of the Canterbury Tales - three of them translations into modern English and one into Finnish - to see whether and how such devices have been preserved. Although the post-medieval reception of the Canterbury Tales has attracted significant amounts of research, the history of their translation into English has yet to receive extensive study. The chapter concentrates on three fabliaux: the Miller's Tale , the Merchant's Tale and the Shipman's Tale . These all provide excellent examples of power shift s in the dialogue between male and female characters. The chapter argues that these indicators of power play have often gone unnoticed by the translators. Keywords: Miller's Tale ; Canterbury Tales ; Finnish translation; Merchant's Tale ; modern English; Shipman's Tale