Marion Turner on The Wife of Bath: A Biography

Folger Shakespeare Library: Shakespeare Unlimited

Folger Shakespeare Library

Arts

4.7 • 837 Ratings

🗓️ 28 March 2023

⏱️ 35 minutes

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Summary

In her book The Wife of Bath: A Biography, Marion Turner reacquaints us with a remarkable, vital character: Alison, Wife of Bath, the most famous fictional pilgrim in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. Turner puts Alison into her historical context in 14th- and 15th-century England and the literary tradition, arguing that the Wife of Bath is literature’s first “ordinary woman,” neither a paragon of virtue nor a vicious caricature. Instead, she’s funny, sexual, opinionated, competent—a recognizably human character. That’s all the more remarkable for her having been written by a man. Turner’s biography goes on to trace the afterlives of the Wife of Bath through reinterpretations and reworkings of the character. That includes Voltaire’s version, James Joyce’s Molly Blum, Pier Paolo Pasolini’s film adaptation, a recent play by Zadie Smith, and her influence on Shakespeare. Turner is interviewed by Barbara Bogaev. Marion Turner is a professor of English at the University of Oxford. She is also the author of Chaucer: A European Life. The Wife of Bath: A Biography is available from Princeton University Press. From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published March 28, 2023. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. Ben Lauer is the web producer. Leonor Fernandez edits our transcripts. We had technical help from Eloise Stevens in Oxford and Jenna McClellan at VoiceTrax West in Studio City, California. Final mixing services provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc.

Transcript

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0:00.0	When was the last time you read a biography of someone who was more than 600 years old?
0:10.0	From the Fulcher Shakespeare Library, this is Shakespeare Unlimited. I'm Michael Whitmore, the Fulcher Director.
0:19.0	Marion Turner is a professor of English at the University of Oxford,
0:22.7	whose past books include a biography of Jeffrey Chaucer. Her latest is a biography of Chaucer's
0:29.2	most famous character, The Wife of Bath. In The Wife of Bath, a biography, Turner reacquaints
0:36.7	us with this remarkable vital character.
0:40.4	She puts Allison, the Wife of Bath, into her historical context in 14th century England
0:45.9	and the literary tradition.
0:48.7	Turner argues that the Wife of Bath is literature's first ordinary woman, Neither a paragon of virtue nor a vicious
0:56.3	caricature. Instead, she's funny, sexual, opinionated, competent, a recognizably human character.
1:04.0	That's all the more remarkable for her having been written by a man. Turner's biography goes on to trace the afterlives of the wife of Bath through reinterpretations
1:14.7	and reworking of the character.
1:17.1	That includes a translation by Voltaire, James Joyce's Molly Bloom, a film version by Pasolini,
1:24.0	and a recent play by Zadie Smith.
1:29.5	One of the treasures of the Folger collection is a 1477 printing of the Canterbury Tales. Chaucer also strongly
1:36.7	influenced Shakespeare as Turner details in her book. Here's Marion Turner in
1:42.0	conversation with Barbara Bogave.
1:45.0	One in April with the Sherry-Zotte, the Rotter-March, as pairs into the Rotter.
1:53.0	I mean, how many people would they hear that you've written two books about Chaucer start droning the prologue at you?
2:00.0	Yeah, you're right. A lot of people do remember that from school. and two books about Chaucer start droning the prolog at you.
2:01.8	Yeah, you're right.
2:04.5	A lot of people do remember that from school.
	...

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