The Essay Podcast
Leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond, themed across a week - insight, opinion and intellectual surprise.
Episodes to download
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Beckett and the Wake—Samuel Beckett - Happy Days
Fri 19 Sep 2014
5/5 Photographer John Minihan on taking some of the best-known photographs of Samuel Beckett.
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Lost in Translation—Samuel Beckett - Happy Days
Thu 18 Sep 2014
4/5 Director Netia Jones on the relationship between words and music in Samuel Beckett's work.
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Beckett expert Dr Mark Nixon on editing a Beckett story 80 years after it was written—Samuel Beckett - Happy Days
Wed 17 Sep 2014
3/5 Beckett expert Dr Mark Nixon on editing a Beckett story 80 years after it was written.
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Beckett's Living Dead—Samuel Beckett - Happy Days
Tue 16 Sep 2014
2/5 Commentator Fintan O'Toole on themes of mortality and death in Samuel Beckett's work.
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A Body of Becketts—Samuel Beckett - Happy Days
Mon 15 Sep 2014
1/5 Actress Lisa Dwan describes the demands of performing in works by Samuel Beckett.
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Homage to Caledonia: Hidden Identities—Homage to Caledonia
Fri 18 Jul 2014
5/5 AL Kennedy on what Scottishness means to her, discussing Scotland's many hidden identities
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Homage to Caledonia: The Language of the Scots—Homage to Caledonia
Thu 17 Jul 2014
4/5 Writer and comedian AL Kennedy celebrates the language of Scotland.
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Homage to Caledonia: Morality and Misery—Homage to Caledonia
Wed 16 Jul 2014
3/5 Writer and comedian AL Kennedy celebrates Scottish 'dourness'.
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Homage to Caledonia: GSOH—Homage to Caledonia
Tue 15 Jul 2014
2/5 AL Kennedy reflects on the idea of what is a good sense of humour.
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Homage to Caledonia: Scots Abroad—Homage to Caledonia
Mon 14 Jul 2014
1/5 AL Kennedy reflects on tartan, the kilt and a sense of Scottish identity.
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Xiaolu Guo—Goodbye to All That
Fri 11 Jul 2014
4/5 Xiaolu Guo reflects on the role of Chinese 'coolies' on the battlefields of World War I.
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Colm Toibin—Goodbye to All That
Thu 10 Jul 2014
2/5 Writer Colm Toibin reflects on Ireland's role in World War I.
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Daniel Kehlmann—Goodbye to All That
Wed 9 Jul 2014
3/5 German writer Daniel Kehlmann reflects on recent German history.
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Jeanette Winterson—Goodbye to All That
Tue 8 Jul 2014
5/5 Jeanette Winterson considers a recent turning point in British attitudes to the arts.
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Elif Shafak—Goodbye to All That
Mon 7 Jul 2014
1/5 Turkish writer Elif Shafak reflects on a turning point in her native country's history.
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The Grieving Parents—Minds at War: Series 1
Fri 4 Jul 2014
10/10 Ruth Padel reflects on German artist Kathe Kollwitz's memorial for her youngest son, Peter
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The Broken Wing—Minds at War: Series 1
Thu 3 Jul 2014
9/10 Santanu Das discusses the Indian poet Sarojini Naidu's 1917 collection The Broken Wing.
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Fighting France, from Dunkerque to Belfort—Minds at War: Series 1
Wed 2 Jul 2014
8/10 大象传媒 correspondent Lyse Doucet discusses Edith Wharton's reportage from wartime France.
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Battleship Potemkin—Minds at War: Series 1
Tue 1 Jul 2014
7/10 Ian Christie discusses Eisenstein's film Battleship Potemkin as a response to World War I.
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Le Feu—Minds at War: Series 1
Mon 30 Jun 2014
6/10 Heather Jones on Henri Barbusse's Le Feu, the first explicit account of WWI conditions.
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Thoughts for the Times on War and Death—Minds at War: Series 1
Fri 27 Jun 2014
5/10 Michal Shapira explores Sigmund Freud's Thoughts for the Times on War and Death.
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The Memorandum on the Neglect of Science—Minds at War: Series 1
Thu 26 Jun 2014
4/10 Prof David Edgerton discusses the 1916 Memorandum on the Neglect of Science.
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Der Krieg—Minds at War: Series 1
Wed 25 Jun 2014
3/10 Cartoonist Martin Rowson on Otto Dix's Der Krieg, a cycle of prints of wartime experience.
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Non-Combatants and Others—Minds at War: Series 1
Tue 24 Jun 2014
2/10 Author Sara LeFanu reflects on Rose Macaulay's 1916 novel Non-Combatants and Others.
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Paths of Glory—Minds at War: Series 1
Mon 23 Jun 2014
1/10 大象传媒 correspondent Allan Little reflects on CRW Nevinson's 1917 painting Paths of Glory.
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Dylan's Bardic Heritage—Dylan Thomas Centenary
Fri 9 May 2014
5/5 Poet and musician Twm Morys explores links between Dylan Thomas and Wales's poetic past.
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Dylan Over the Pond—Dylan Thomas Centenary
Thu 8 May 2014
4/5 Writer and poet Kevin Powell explores Dylan Thomas's influence on black American writers.
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Tracing Dylan's Pathway—Dylan Thomas Centenary
Wed 7 May 2014
3/5 Gwyneth Lewis takes a personal journey through the language of Dylan Thomas.
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A Childhood Encounter with Dylan—Dylan Thomas Centenary
Tue 6 May 2014
2/5 Andrew Davies reflects on the influence of Dylan Thomas, growing up in Wales in the 1950s.
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Crossing Dylan's Boundaries—Dylan Thomas Centenary
Mon 5 May 2014
1/5 John Goodby explores the ways in which Dylan Thomas's poetry and life crossed boundaries.
Death in Trieste
A 1760s murder still informs ideas about aesthetics, a certain sort of sex, and death.
Watch: My Deaf World
Five compelling experiences of what it is like to be deaf in 21st-century Britain.
The Book that Changed Me
Five figures from the arts and science introduce books that changed their lives and work.
Download The Essay
Download all the episodes from the series and listen at your leisure.
