In Our Time Archive: Culture show

In Our Time Archive: Culture

Summary: Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the history of ideas as it applies to culture - from literature and the visual arts to artistic movements and their origins.

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Podcasts:

 IOTC: In Memoriam | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 42:06

Melvyn and guests discuss one of Alfred, Lord Tennyson's greatest poem's, 'In Memoriam A.H.H.'. Written as a tribute to his best friend, Arthur Henry Hallam, who died suddenly and tragically at the age of 22, the poem offers an insight into Tennyson's deepest feelings of grief and loss. As well as being a heart-rending elegy, the poem also considers the new geological ideas that were coming to light at the time and the questions this knowledge raised about the history of the Earth as outlined in the Bible. Melvyn is joined by Dinah Birch, Professor of English Literature and Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research at Liverpool University; Seamus Perry, Fellow and Tutor in English at Balliol College, University of Oxford; and Jane Wright, Lecturer in English at the University of Bristol.

 IOTC: The Anatomy of Melancholy | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 42:14

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Robert Burton's The Anatomy of Melancholy.

 IOTC: The Medieval University | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 41:42

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the medieval universities. In the 11th and 12th centuries a new type of institution started to appear in the major cities of Europe. The first universities were those of Bologna and Paris; within a hundred years similar educational organisations were springing up all over the continent. The universities provided training for those intending to embark on careers in the Church, the law and education. They provided a new focus for intellectual life in Europe, and exerted a significant influence on society around them. And the university model proved so robust that many of these institutions and their medieval innovations still exist today. With Miri Rubin, Professor of Medieval and Early Modern History at Queen Mary, University of London; Ian Wei, Senior Lecturer in Medieval European History at the University of Bristol; and Peter Denley, Reader in History at Queen Mary, University of London.

 IOTC: Childe Harold's Pilgrimage | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 41:55

Melvyn Bragg and guests consider the poem which allegedly made the Romantic English poet, Lord Byron, famous. 'Childe Harold's Pilgrimage' was a thinly veiled autobiographical poem recounting Byron's travels through the Mediterranean, the tales of the first and archetypal 'Byronic Hero'. Melvyn is joined by Jonathan Bate, Professor of English Literature at the University of Warwick; Jane Stabler, Reader in Romanticism at the University of St Andrews; and Emily Bernhard Jackson, Assistant Professor in Nineteenth-Century English Literature at the University of Arkansas.

 IOTC: Metaphor | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 42:05

Melvyn Bragg and guests explore metaphor; the literary device that pervades our language, literature and lives. From medieval literature to Shakespeare, the Metaphysical poets and Virginia Woolf, this programme considers the role of metaphor in their work and more. Melvyn Bragg is joined by Julie Sanders, Professor of English Literature and Drama at the University of Nottingham; Steve Connor, Professor of Modern Literature and Theory at Birkbeck, University of London; and Tom Healy, Professor of Renaissance Studies at the University of Sussex.

 IOTC: The Unicorn | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 41:59

Melvyn Bragg and guests consider the origins and symbolism of that most legendary of mythical beasts, the unicorn. From ancient texts to medieval tapestries the unicorn has inspired writers, musicians and artists for centuries. Melvyn is joined by Juliette Wood, Associate Lecturer in Folklore at Cardiff University; Lauren Kassell, Lecturer in the History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge; and David Ekserdjian, Professor of the History of Art and Film at the University of Leicester.

 IOTC: Sturm und Drang | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 42:13

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the 18th century 'Angry Young Men' movement in Germany, 'Sturm und Drang'. Translated into English as 'Storm and Stress', this short-lived movement was characterised by raw emotion, drama and rebellion. Melvyn is joined by Tim Blanning, Emeritus Professor of Modern European History at Cambridge University; Susanne Kord, Professor of German at University College, London; and Maike Oergel, Associate Professor of German at the University of Nottingham.

 IOTC: Al-Biruni | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 44:38

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Central Asian polymath al-Biruni and his eleventh-century book the India. With Amira Bennison, Hugh Kennedy and James Montgomery.

 IOTC: Giorgio Vasari's Lives of the Artists | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 41:53

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Giorgio Vasari's Lives of the Artists. With David Ekserdjian, Martin Kemp and Evelyn Welch.

 IOTC: Roman Satire | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 42:06

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Roman satire. Guests include Mary Beard, Duncan Kennedy and Denis Feeney.

 IOTC: Munch and The Scream | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 41:32

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Edvard Munch and his most famous painting, The Scream. Guests include David Jackson, Dorothy Rowe and Alastair Wright.

 IOTC: Silas Marner | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 42:15

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss George Eliot's 1861 novel Silas Marner. With Rosemary Ashton, Dinah Birch and Valentine Cunningham.

 IOTC: Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 42:19

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. With Roy Foster, Katherine Mullin and Jeri Johnson.

 IOTC: Elizabethan Revenge | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 42:17

Melvyn Bragg discusses why revenge tragedy was so popular with Elizabethan theatre goers. With guests Jonathan Bate, Janet Clare and Julie Sanders.

 IOTC: The Whale: A History | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 42:24

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the evolutionary history of the whale. Guests include Steve Jones, Bill Amos and Eleanor Weston.

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