Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde
About this episode
The episode explores Chaucer's epic poem 'Troilus and Criseyde', highlighting its novel-like features and its insights into medieval love and war.
We’re aware that Chaucer’s epic poem Troilus and Criseyde written in the 1380s might be a tough sell to even the most devoted SLoB listener, but bear with us. Troilus and Criseyde is not a novel, but it bears a lot of features that we associate with novels and reading this novel-length poem takes you into the world and minds of medieval England - albeit transposed to Ancient Troy - by someone who was living there. It has action, betrayal and a racy sex scene. It gives us a new kind of access to characters' inner lives, and it reveals that inwardly people are wildly different from the way they appear. This is a love story that doesn't conform to any of our expectations about medieval love, and a war story that doesn't comply with our expectations of war. There are so many firsts here. We see the invention of the famous British sense of humour captured in real-time by Chaucer, the very guy who invented it. It features the first reconstructed male concerned with consent in literary history and the first dumping by text message - although obviously there’s no phone involved. Become a subscriber by signing up at Apple: http://apple.co/slob Or join our Patreon community here…
More episodes of Secret Life of Books
- Secret Life of Reading (with Maggie O'Farrell and Ben Alderson-Day)
- Secret Life of Edinburgh
- Secret Life of Trains 2 (Choo choo!)
- Charlotte Higgins on Ukrainian Lessons: Art in a Time of War
- James Joyce 3: Ulysses
- Greek Lessons by Han Kang
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Secret Life of Books podcast page.