大象传媒 Radio 3 - The Essay

The Essay Podcast

Leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond, themed across a week - insight, opinion and intellectual surprise.

Updated: occasionally

Episodes available: indefinitely

Black Narcissus—Praising Powell and Pressburger

Thu 26 Sep 2013

4/5 Film critic Peter Bradshaw on Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's film Black Narcissus
A Matter of Life and Death—Praising Powell and Pressburger

Wed 25 Sep 2013

3/5 Richard Coles on the classic Powell and Pressburger film A Matter of Life and Death.
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp—Praising Powell and Pressburger

Tue 24 Sep 2013

2/5 Ian Christie on The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, dubbed the 'British Citizen Kane'.
The Red Shoes—Praising Powell and Pressburger

Mon 23 Sep 2013

1/5 Deborah Bull on Powell and Pressburger's classic 1948 film The Red Shoes.
Yield to the Night—Heffer on British Film

Fri 20 Sep 2013

5/5 For the 大象传媒's Sound of Cinema season, Simon Heffer discusses the film Yield to the Night.
Mandy—Heffer on British Film

Thu 19 Sep 2013

4/5 As part of the 大象传媒's Sound of Cinema season, Simon Heffer discusses the 1953 film Mandy.
The Long Memory—Heffer on British Film

Wed 18 Sep 2013

3/5 Simon Heffer on how the film The Long Memory shows Britan as depressed and worn out by war
The Browning Version—Heffer on British Film

Tue 17 Sep 2013

2/5 Simon Heffer discusses the 1951 film The Browning Version.
It Always Rains on Sunday—Heffer on British Film

Mon 16 Sep 2013

1/5 Simon Heffer discusses the gritty world of the 1947 film It Always Rains on Sunday.
Alchemy and Magic—Life in Fragments: Stories from the Cairo Genizah

Fri 31 May 2013

5/5 Gabriele Ferrario unlocks a world of alchemy and magic in the heart of medieval Cairo.
Three Lives—Life in Fragments: Stories from the Cairo Genizah

Thu 30 May 2013

4/5 Daniel Davies describes the private papers of three very different medieval Egyptians.
Women—Life in Fragments: Stories from the Cairo Genizah

Wed 29 May 2013

3/5 Melonie Schmierer-Lee discovers the varying fortunes of women in medieval Cairo.
Letters—Life in Fragments: Stories from the Cairo Genizah

Tue 28 May 2013

2/5 Ben Outhwaite reveals an intercultural trade network across the medieval Mediterrean.
The Discovery—Life in Fragments: Stories from the Cairo Genizah

Mon 27 May 2013

1/5 Esther-Miriam Wagner on discovering the Genizah, medieval manuscripts in a Cairo synagogue
Wagner and Adorno—Wagner's Philosophers

Fri 24 May 2013

5/5 Professor John Deathridge explores the posthumous reputation of Wagner in the 20th century
Wagner and Nietzsche—Wagner's Philosophers

Thu 23 May 2013

4/5 Michael Tanner explores the relationship between Wagner and Friedrich Nietzsche.
Wagner and Schopenhauer—Wagner's Philosophers

Wed 22 May 2013

3/5 Christopher Janaway explores Wagner's encounter with the philosophy of Schopenhauer.
Wagner and the Philosophy of Revolution—Wagner's Philosophers

Tue 21 May 2013

2/5 AC Grayling focuses on the crucial years before and after the Dresden uprising of 1849.
Wagner and German Idealism—Wagner's Philosophers

Mon 20 May 2013

1/5 Roger Scruton explores the philosophical background that influenced the young Wagner.
Greece—Living Abroad

Fri 17 May 2013

5/5 Writer Frederic Raphael recalls living in Greece in the early 1960s.
Italy—Living Abroad

Thu 16 May 2013

4/5 Writer Frederic Raphael recalls living in early 1960s Italy.
Spain—Living Abroad

Wed 15 May 2013

3/5 Writer Frederic Raphael recalls living in Franco's Spain during the late 1950s.
France—Living Abroad

Tue 14 May 2013

2/5 Frederic Raphael recalls his life as a young writer in the post-war Paris of Sartre.
England—Living Abroad

Mon 13 May 2013

1/5 Writer Frederic Raphael recalls living in wartime Britain as a boy.
Holguin—Unknown Cities

Fri 26 Apr 2013

5/5 Travel editor Simon Calder recalls the small-scale delights of Holguin in Cuba.
Asmara—Unknown Cities

Thu 25 Apr 2013

4/5 Michela Wrong on the Italianate buildings and futurist constructions in Asmara, Eritrea.
Makhachkala—Unknown Cities

Wed 24 Apr 2013

3/5 Vanora Bennett on Makhachkala in Russia, which she describes as 'beyond the mountains'.
Kunming—Unknown Cities

Tue 23 Apr 2013

2/5 Romesh Gunesekera on Kunming, considered to be unlike any other modern Chinese city.
Hobart—Unknown Cities

Mon 22 Apr 2013

1/5 Nicholas Shakespeare on Hobart's convict and whaling past, and the story of a monkey.
Cubism—Paris 1913

Fri 11 Jan 2013

5/5 Adam Gopnik discusses Cubism in 1913 Paris, considering it as a form of poetic realism.