Main content

Light in the Dark

Alexandra Harris explores the history of artificial light through literary sources.

A week of essays from five of the 大象传媒 Radio 3's New Generation Thinkers continues with a look at light.

Alexandra Harris one of Radio 3's New Generation Thinkers explores the history of artificial light through literary sources. From from early oil lamps, to rushlights, to the illustrious candle - Harris shows how it has changed our lives and focused our thoughts.

Alexandra Harris won the 2010 Guardian First Book Award with Romantic Moderns. Her most recent work is a short biography of Virginia Woolf.

The New Generation Thinkers are winners of the inaugural talent scheme run the 大象传媒 Radio 3 and the Arts and Humanities Research Council to find the brightest academic minds in the arts and humanities with the potential to turn their ideas into fascinating broadcasts.

In subsequent programmes this week, Zoe Norridge questions the power of images of Africa in the West and Jon Adams examines how modern day writers are borrowing skills from the theologians of old.

Available now

15 minutes

Broadcast

  • Wed 18 Jan 2012 22:45

Death in Trieste

Death in Trieste

A 1760s murder still informs ideas about aesthetics, a certain sort of sex, and death.

Watch: My Deaf World

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 The Essay

Download all the episodes from the series and listen at your leisure.

Podcast