Marion Turner
Marion Turner is Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford and Tutorial Fellow in English at Jesus College. She specializes in medieval literature and culture, with a particular focus on Chaucer. She is the author of Chaucerian Conflict (2007) and the editor of A Handbook of Middle English Studies (2013). Her most recent book is Chaucer: A European Life (2019), a major biography of the great medieval poet.
Books by Marion Turner
“The first half of The Wife of Bath: A Biography uses Chaucer’s text to explore various aspects of the lives of/attitudes to medieval women. The second half looks at Alison’s afterlife, from the early scribes who responded to her story as they copied it out to Zadie Smith’s 2021 play. The book is very focused on the text, so it’s probably going to appeal more to people who enjoy literary analysis. “ Read more...
Notable Nonfiction of Early 2023
Sophie Roell, Journalist
Chaucer: A European Life
by Marion Turner
"People who know a bit about Chaucer tend to think of him as the father of English literature—there’s a famous picture of him as an old patriarch, pointing with a rosary—or they think of him as a genial, middle-aged man telling slightly risqué stories in a pub. That’s the popular image of Chaucer. But really, that image came about after his death. In his lifetime, no one thought of him in that way."
Read more in our interview with biographer Marion Turner on the best books on The Canterbury Tales.
Interviews with Marion Turner
Best Medieval Historical Fiction, recommended by Marion Turner
The medieval era in Europe lasted a millennium and saw massive social change and technological innovation, as well as calamities like the Black Death. That makes it a great period for historical fiction, offering a glimpse of a past that was very different from our own lives, and yet can resonate with the present. Here Marion Turner, Professor of English Literature at Oxford University, recommends some of her favourite historical novels set in the Middle Ages and explains why she finds them so compelling.
The Canterbury Tales: A Reading List, recommended by Marion Turner
Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales not only revolutionized English poetry—they’re also extremely funny and moving. Oxford Professor Marion Turner, who has written the first full-length biography of Chaucer in a generation, tells us about the extraordinary man who wrote them and why we should all read the Canterbury Tales.
Interviews where books by Marion Turner were recommended
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1
The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper
by Hallie Rubenhold -
2
The Boundless Sea: A Human History of the Oceans
by David Abulafia -
3
Chaucer: A European Life
by Marion Turner -
4
A History of the Bible
by John Barton -
5
A Fistful of Shells: West Africa from the Rise of the Slave Trade to the Age of Revolution
by Toby Green -
6
Cricket Country: An Indian Odyssey in the Age of Empire
by Prashant Kidambi
The Best History Books: the 2020 Wolfson Prize shortlist, recommended by Richard Evans
The Best History Books: the 2020 Wolfson Prize shortlist, recommended by Richard Evans
If you’re looking for the best history books published this past year, the annual Wolfson History Prize is a great place to start. Each year, the judges pick out outstanding books that are both originally researched and readable. Historian and Wolfson judge Richard Evans talks us through the six history books that made the 2020 shortlist.
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1
A Stranger in Your Own City: Travels in the Middle East's Long War
by Ghaith Abdul-Ahad -
2
Humanly Possible: Seven Hundred Years of Humanist Freethinking, Inquiry, and Hope
by Sarah Bakewell -
3
Travels with Tocqueville Beyond America
by Jeremy Jennings -
4
The Earth Transformed: An Untold History
by Peter Frankopan -
5
The Wife of Bath: A Biography
by Marion Turner
Notable Nonfiction of Early 2023, recommended by Sophie Roell
Notable Nonfiction of Early 2023, recommended by Sophie Roell
As 2023 gets underway, Five Books editor Sophie Roell looks at some of the interesting nonfiction books coming out in the early months of the year (January-March).
