Sweet and sour together can be better than either alone.

The Merchant's Tale is not one of the more popular Canterbury Tales, and rightly so. It might almost be called an anti-romance: Old January buys a wife, young May cheats on him, January discovers it but is tricked into believing it didn't happen. No one comes out well.

And yet, it fits well into the Canterbury framework, as Chaucer seems to be exploring what makes marriages work well. The Wife of Bath argues for men obeying women, the Clerk argues for women obeying men, the Merchant argues that May-January matches don't work -- and finally the Franklin points out that good marriages are just that: Good. They work by cooperation. Not everyone agrees that Chaucer was trying to make this point, but many do, and in that argument, the Merchant's Tale has an important place.

And this little book, although it cannot include the Wife's or Clerk's or Franklin's tales, brings out that point in the introduction, so that we can be aware of what we are getting ourselves into. It looks at the other tales on the topic, it looks at sources, it supplies historical context based on the horrid opinion many men of the time had of women. (An opinion Chaucer, happily, did not share.) Then it presents the Tale.

The presentation is not perfect. Many readers may miss the glosses found in more popular editions. And while there are extensive notes, there are no indications in the text to tell the reader which sections have explanations. Still, this is a good and useful book on a rather difficult topic. ( )