"The Merchant's Prologue and Tale" (York Notes Advanced)

****

Serves its purpose very well indeed 27 Aug 2007

The York Notes series have their admirers and detractors, and it should be admitted that the unfortunate side-effect of the books is whole sets of essays which all toe the same critical line. However, inasmuch as they provide what might be described as a "safety net" to cover all the main points of a text, they do a very good job.

And this book does that job as well as any other. It is easily digestible in size (120 pages in all), and there is a useful glossary to cover the technical terms which are employed. What appeals most to me, however, is the way in which it admits not only a standard "Lit. Crit." reading into its coverage of the Tale, but also a more linguistic focus, which makes the book of use to someone doing a Language & Literature A-level, for example.

In all, a tidy little volume: the only reason it does not receive 5 stars is because it gives a slightly wayward definition of "trope" in its glossary. That aside, I would recommend it most highly to any A-level or university undergraduate student.