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/lit/ - Literature

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14926586 No.14926586 [Reply] [Original]

What is the best edition of the Canterbury Tales??

>> No.14926735
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14926735

>>14926586
The Riverside Chaucer.

>> No.14926795

I took a glance at The Canterbury Tales and, even with the notes provided (I have The Riverside Chaucer mentioned above), I found it tedious. Many confusing lines didn't have notes while some words whose meanings were fairly obvious were translated by whatever dimwit put this edition together. I'll give it another shot eventually but it's annoying when you've got a sentence in front of you that makes no sense and the resource supposedly put there to aid you is no help whatsoever.
Maybe there's a set of more thorough explanatory notes online somewhere, I'll certainly look for some before taking another crack at it.

>> No.14926817

>>14926795
The best way to do this is read it with a translation side by side. That way you can just scan a line or stanza without having to dig through footnotes and glossaries

>> No.14926826

I want to be like hooni.

>> No.14926837

>>14926735
Honestly this. If you want some variety, also try the Oxford World Classics.

>> No.14926869

>>14926735
Is that Everyman paperback copy of Piers Plowman any good? I've been trying to find a good edition of the B text.

>> No.14926954

>>14926869
Not that anon, but I also have it and I would recommend it. Probably the best edition of it. Included are footnotes on the bottom of every page and a comprehensive introduction

>> No.14926996

>>14926735
>>14926837
I'll probably just get the Oxford one since the Riverside one is $20 more expensive and I only want to read the Canterbury Tales anyway

>> No.14927090

>>14926826
For me, it's the man who tricks the blind lord.

>> No.14927096

>>14926586
>tfw no hooni bf

>> No.14927199

>>14926996
Part of the majesty of reading Chaucer, as with Dante and Rabelais, is to hear the living language even after centuries of estrangement. If you are at all capable of parsing out the pronounciation and meaning of ME I urge you to try reading Chaucer in the original, read it aloud and see what I mean.

>> No.14927213

>>14926735
Can confirm that the broadview is totally based.

>> No.14927218

>>14926586
luv him

>> No.14927395

>>14927199
wtf, is the riverside one the only edition with the original middle english? that sucks so much if it is.

>> No.14927406

>>14927395
it's a very nice volume and worth the extra dollars