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A Body of Essays: Philip Kerr - Breaking Brain

Crime writer Philip Kerr visits a brain surgery operating theatre, explaining how the practice has advanced since the days of gruesome lobotomy practices.

In an ongoing collaboration with 大象传媒 Radio 3, Wellcome Collection's Reading Room is the setting for a series of 'The Essay' devoted to the bodily organs. 'Body of Essays' invites five writers to ruminate on a different organ of the body. This strange proposition has a mysterious allure: the organs are hidden, buried from view, and yet are at the very core of our physical functioning as well as our mental and emotional world. Suctioned together in dark flesh, the organs can be all the more puzzling and intriguing.

New York Times best selling author Philip Kerr is the creator of Bernie Gunther, an unflinching private eye. Philip immerses himself in the real world to inform what he puts on the page whether fiction or fact - in this essay we accompany him into a brain surgery operating room.

The complete list of essayists:
Monday
William Fiennes, author, writes about the bowel.
Tuesday
Chibundu Onuzo, young author, writes about the thyroid
Wednesday
Philip Kerr, crime author, writes about the brain
Thursday
Annie Freud, poet and visual artist, writes about the kidneys.
Friday
Thomas Lynch, poet-undertaker, writes about the uterus.

Available now

15 minutes

Broadcast

  • Wed 6 Apr 2016 22:45

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