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“Married five times. Mother. Lover. Aunt. Friend.
She plays many roles round here. And never
Scared to tell the whole of her truth, whether
Or not anyone wants to hear it. Wife
Of Willesden: pissed enough to tell her life
Story to whoever has ears and eyes . . .”
In her stage-writing debut, celebrated novelist and essayist Zadie Smith brings to life a comedic and cutting twenty-first century translation of Geoffrey Chaucer’s classic The Wife of Bath. The Wife of Willesden follows Alvita, a Jamaican-born British woman in her mid-50s, as she tells her life story to a band of strangers in a small pub on the Kilburn High Road. Wearing fake gold chains, dressed in knock-off designer clothes, and speaking in a mixture of London slang and patois, Alvita recalls her five marriages in outrageous, bawdy detail, rewrites her mistakes as triumphs, and shares her beliefs on femininity, sexuality, and misogyny with anyone willing to listen.
A thoughtful reimagining of an unforgettable narrative of female sexual power, written with singular verve and wit, The Wife of Willesden shows why Zadie Smith is one of the sharpest and most versatile writers working today.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
February 14, 2023 -
Formats
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Kindle Book
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9780593653746
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9780593653746
- File size: 1449 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Starred review from January 1, 2023
Smith, the award-winning novelist (Swing Time) and essayist (Imitations), has written her first play--a modern, innovative reinterpretation and reimagining of the 14th-century Middle English "Wife of Bath's Tale" from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Following the structure and poetic meter of the original (with "prologue," "tale," and "retraction") Smith has transformed the original Alysoun to the vibrant, Jamaican-born Alvita, whose uncompromising perspective on marriage, sex, and relationships between the sexes comprise this ingenious, short, and energy-filled play. As with Chaucer's authoritative narration of her tale, Alvita, too, is a natural talker who speaks from the authority that comes from experience. Set in Northwest London, Alvita, married five times, tells her story in a pub. The story she chooses is set in 18th-century Jamaica, where a young man who rapes a young girl can avoid the death sentence if he can determine what women want. VERDICT A triumph of dramatic creativity, this slim volume is a total delight. Highly recommended.--Herbert E. Shapiro
Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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