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Introducing: Human Conditions
Season 8
In the second of three introductions to our full Close Readings programme for 2024, Adam Shatz presents his series, Human Conditions, in which he’ll …
2 years, 4 months ago
The Long and Short: Elizabeth Bowen
Season 6 Episode 12
In the final episode of The Long and Short, we turn to Elizabeth Bowen, widely considered one of the finest writers of the short story. Mark and Seam…
2 years, 5 months ago
Among the Ancients: Seneca
Season 5 Episode 12
For the final episode in Among the Ancients, Emily and Tom look at Seneca, whose life is relatively well known to us. A child of the established Roma…
2 years, 5 months ago
Medieval Beginnings: The Travels of Sir John Mandeville
Season 4 Episode 12
For the final episode of Medieval Beginnings, Mary and Irina look at by far the most popular text (in its time) of all that have featured in the seri…
2 years, 5 months ago
The Long and Short: Alice Oswald's ‘Dart’ and ‘Memorial’
Season 6 Episode 11
The eleventh episode of the Long and Short brings us to the present day and the distant past, as we turn to two multivocal, monumental poems by Alice…
2 years, 6 months ago
Among the Ancients: Ovid
Season 5 Episode 11
Ovid was perhaps the most prolific poet of Ancient Rome, certainly in the amount of his poetry which has survived (around 30,000 lines). This episode…
2 years, 6 months ago
Medieval Beginnings: The Digby Mary Magdalene Play
Season 4 Episode 11
For sheer scale and spectacle, surely few plays of any period can match The Digby Play of Mary Magdalene. Boasting at least fifty speaking parts, wit…
2 years, 6 months ago
The Long and Short: Nella Larsen's 'Passing' and Langston Hughes's 'Montage of a Dream Deferred'
Season 6 Episode 10
In the tenth episode of the series, Seamus and Mark turn to two figures of the Harlem Renaissance. Nella Larsen’s ‘Passing’ is taut, tense and tartly…
2 years, 7 months ago
Among the Ancients: Horace
Season 5 Episode 10
Emily and Tom follow Virgil with one of his contemporaries, Horace, whose poetry played an important political role in the early years of Augustan Ro…
2 years, 7 months ago
Medieval Beginnings: Middle English Lyrics
Season 4 Episode 10
From the first recorded instance of the word ‘fart’ in English, to nuanced vignettes of sexual power dynamics, the numerous Middle English lyrics tha…
2 years, 7 months ago