The history of The Book of Margery Kempe from its first production in 1934 is also part of the history of English literary studies. Marea Mitchell traces some of the fascinating stories behind the proliferation of productions since then including the involvement of Hope Emily Allen and other independent women scholars popular receptions of the Book in World War II and current productions that locate it as part of a medieval literary canon. Working from a cultural materialist perspective Mitchell focuses on the materiality of the text itself and of the bodies of scholarship that have arisen around it.