Geoffrey Chaucer: Father of English Literature

Gone Medieval

History Hit

History

4.6 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 2 February 2024

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Geoffrey Chaucer is perhaps medieval England’s most famous writer and poet. Now a new exhibition at the Bodleian Library in Oxford is setting out to give him greater breadth and depth than just The Canterbury Tales.

To talk more about the ‘Father of English Literature’ with Matt Lewis is its curator Professor Marion Turner.

This episode was produced by Rob Weinberg.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	If you're enjoying all the content in this episode and the rest of the
0:03.2	gone medieval series then why not join us for a trip retracing the discovery of
0:07.8	Richard the third we're visiting key locations that tell the story of the life and death of King Richard the third.
0:15.3	To book now or find out more about this and other historical trips, just go to Historyhit.com
0:21.6	forward slash trips. History Hit.com. C.
0:23.0	Drips.
0:24.0	Welcome to this episode of Gone Medieval, I'm Matt Lewis.
0:32.0	Jeffrey Chaucer is perhaps the most famous English writer and poet of the medieval period.
0:37.6	His Canterbury Tales is a series of stories told by pilgrims reflecting their experiences
0:42.3	as different members of society.
0:44.9	He's been framed as the father of English literature, but a new exhibition is setting out to give
0:49.6	him greater breadth and depth.
0:52.3	Chaucerheera now is open at the Bodle and Library in Oxford until the 28th of April
0:56.8	2024.
0:58.3	Entry is free, what could be better, what could be better is that there is a book to go along
1:02.3	with the exhibition too, which is edited by my guest today.
1:06.0	I'm delighted to be joined to talk about Chaucer and the exhibition by its curator,
1:11.0	Professor Marion Turner, who is the J.R.R. Tolkien professor of English
1:14.2	literature and language at the University of Oxford, which is very, very cool for a Lord
1:19.6	of the Rings nerd like me. So welcome to the podcast, Marion. Thank you very much for inviting me. It's nice to be here.
1:25.5	Pleasure to have you on. Chaucer is someone who's escaped the podcast so far. We don't seem to have
1:29.5	managed to have covered him. So it's great to be able to talk a little bit about him and his influence both over his own period and ever since I guess
	...

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