so I read this is the best Chaucer edition out there. How hard

Takes a while to get used to it, but it's not very difficult. It helps if you read it out loud to yourself.

I've got the 2nd edition and it's hard.
IIRC you've got 2 lines per page which have notes explaining what the line means in modern english and at the back there's notes on interpreting and explanation of the meaning of the line. There's also a lot of things which would only interest academics, about the text, etc that clutter up the notes and can make it difficult to read.
I was only able to get through the prologue and I still had to search up the meaning of words online.
I wouldn't recommend getting it new though, I got mine for $7 used shipped from america in perfect condition.

>>9927692
where do you buy used books in USA that get shipped outside?
Also I don't want to go to the back every time I don't get something. Any idea what's a better option for someone that just wants to read Chaucer? I'm ok with reading the original as long as I have the meaning of words right there.

>>9927709
Nearly half of the entire book is just notes explaining the text and a 1/3'd to a 1/4 of the page of the text itself are notes, you can't really get more detailed then that. It also has a 100 or so pages explaining Chaucer and his writing.
I've also got the nortons anthology of english literature which comes with some of canterbury tales stories and it goes into far less detail than the riverside in terms of footnotes and endnotes so I'm not sure if you have any other options.
And I use abebooks/ebay. The actual text cost $1 and the rest was shipping funnily enough.

>>9927723
>a 1/3'd to a 1/4 of the page of the text itself are notes, you can't really get more detailed then that.
Arden Shakespeare

>>9927723
Which country anon?

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Mine says it's "based on the riverside Chaucer"

>>9927842
which edition is this one?

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>>9927849
It's based on the third edition

>>9927649
I'm doing an English undergrad at Oxford and my tutor (a medieval specialist) made us buy this edition, take that for what you will

Shit's dense af though, if you just want to read it just find a good readable edition

>>9927857
Yes anon, I think >>9927853 is exactly what I'm looking for.

>>9927649
>How hard to read is it?

desu if you can survive Shakespeare, you can survive Chaucer, although with more difficulty.

>>9927842
Yeah, that's what the Riverside looks like

>>9927903
So the Riverside looks exactly like this but has all the extra shit Chaucer wrote? Because that is completely readable for me.

Read it aloud and pronounce every letter. Literally every letter. Knight is pronounced "kuh-nee-cht".

Most words that you dont think you recognize will be made clear to you if you sound it out.

>>9927916
This. The only word here >>9927842 that I would not expect a well-read man to recognize is "poraille".

>>9927933
get the out with your cheap elitism. It says frankeleyns right in the second line.

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>>9927910
That one has the notes in the back. It's 560 pages

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>>9928104
Ok you lost me. The one posted here >>9927842 and here >>9927853 is pic related if I'm not mistaken and it's 624 pages long. Based on Riverside and footnotes.
The Riverside Chaucer is 1392 pages long and if I understand what >>9927692 and >>9927903
it also has footnotes.
What's the one you're talking about then anon? The one with 560 pages.

>>9927842
>champioun
>champion*

At last, I truly see

Ok so i've got my riverside chaucer in front of me and it seems like it has the same endnotes as this one >>9928104 but the references are more compact in the riverside for example it says 'see Besserman, ChR 12, 1977, 68-71' whilst in the other it says 'see Lawrence L. Besserman, ChauR 12,1977, 68-71' however there are some endnotes that are in the riverside and not the other.
>>9927842
Also this one has identical footnotes to the riverside only it's less compact.
A problem I have with the riverside is that it's a bit small and the pages are way too thick so it can be a pain to read on a table since the pages don't just fall apart like a norton anthology does.
I can provide pics if you want.

>>9928126
The Riverside also includes all of Chaucer's writings apart from the Tales, including Troilus and Crysseide and The Parlaiment of Fowls.

>>9928296
So the riverside does have the same footnotes explaining language that >>9927842 has. Can you provide a pic of that same page?
I still don't know what is the one with 560 anon talked about