Product Description

This peerless new edition of Chaucer's complete works is the fruit of many years' study, and replaces Robinson's famous edition, long regarded as the standard text. Freshly edited and annotated, the Riverside Chaucer is now the indispensable edition for students and readers of Chaucer.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #382603 in Books
• Published on: 1990-04-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 1327 pages

Modern Language Review
`offers a much-needed shot in the arm to Chaucer studies in colleges and universities' Modern Language Review

IBooks
'... indispensable for scholars and beginners alike ... Professor Larry D Benson ... deserves a medal both for organizing a formidable team of American and British scholars and for the excellence of his own contributions. IBooks

Country Life
'an enormous advance on its predecessor ... particularly in its informative introductory materials, glossary ... and the addition of explanatory notes at the foot of each page. At well over 1,300 pages, it must be a bargain.' Country Life

Customer Reviews

A fantastic edition
Let's get the bad points over and done with: it's heavy. In fact, that's the only bad thing about this otherwise simply fantastic edition. And, let's face it, it's not a text you'll just want to slip into your back pocket for a wait at the doctor's surgery, is it? The texts are given illuminating introductions, which are worth reading before starting the poems themselves as they provide a great "way-in" to the texts. The notes and glossary are invaluable. Chaucer is really not difficult to read once you're used to the langauge, and even the best translations don't do him justice. If you must buy a translation, buy prose ones - avoid those such as Coghill's which attempt to reproduce rhyme and metre as they add too much extraneous matter to the original texts. This edition fully justifies Chaucer's reputation as a seminal English poet - hopefully it will introduce readers to the whole range of his works as well as the justly famous Canterbury Tales.

The ideal Chaucer study text.
The Riverside Chaucer has become the scholar's standard, and rightly so. Chaucer's texts are supported by brief individual introductions, detailed explanatory and textual notes and a glossary - giving those new to Chaucer a wealth of useful information. The general introduction outlines and explains Chaucer's language and style. It is easy to use and the text isn't crowded by too much detail - it's there if you want it, but not forced onto the reader. Yes, it is heavy - but what else do you expect from a complete works?!

One disadvantage: too many references
Of course this is a wonderful edition containing all of Chaucer's works, accompanied by detailed notes and a thorough glossary. However, for those hoping that the annotations will provide you with a full social and historical context, I'd just like to mention that the Riverside Chaucer tends to "send you off" to other academic books about Chaucer or about life in medieval England. I found this very unhelpful, expecting notes to give me certain insight into Chaucer's life and thought as well as historic contexts, but most of the help comes in the form of "For Chaucer's view of women, see [insert title of book and year of publication]" sending you off to very academic books that not everyone has access to. Of course, this is brilliant if you're looking for a list of books to read for your dissertation, but if you're reading Chaucer just out of interest then you will find very few explanations of themes or social contexts. Personally, I prefer the individual Oxford Student Texts, the notes tell you everything you need to know and explain the text wonderfully; sadly though, the OST have only published some of the Canterbury Tales, and of those that have been published there is just a handful.