Podcast appearances and mentions of John Mullan

Jane Austen created the definitive picture of Georgian England. No writer matches Austen's sensitive ear for the hypocrisy and irony lurking beneath the genteel conversation. That's the argument of the Janeites, but to the aficionados of Emily Brontë they are the misguided worshippers of a circumscribed mind. In Wuthering Heights, Brontë dispensed with Austen's niceties and the upper-middle class drawing rooms of Bath and the home counties. Her backdrop is the savage Yorkshire moors, her subject the all-consuming passions of the heart. To help you decide who should be crowned queen of English letters we have the lined up the best advocates to make the case for each writer. In this event, chaired by author and critic Erica Wagner, we invited guests including author Kate Mosse, Professor and author John Mullan, and actors Mariah Gale, Samuel West and Dominic West, to discuss each writer's influence. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

John Mullan and Caroline Frost join Tom to review Steven Knight's new historical drama A Thousand Blows, Nicolas Hytner's production of Richard II staring Jonathan Bailey and novel Perspectives by Laurent BinetPresenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Ciaran Bermingham

Happy 2025! This year marks Jane Austen's 250th birthday, and we are delighted to kick off the celebration with professor and author John Mullan as our guest. This month we delve into passages from the four novels published during Austen's lifetime and discuss what the details reveal about her genius as a writer. Join us for this fascinating and insightful episode! John Mullan is Lord Northcliffe Chair of Modern English Literature at University College London. Specializing in eighteenth- and nineteenth century literature, he is a frequent guest on radio and TV and lectures widely. He also writes on contemporary fiction for the Guardian and was a judge for the 2009 Man Booker Prize. John is the author of The Artful Dickens, What Matters in Jane Austen?, Anonymity: A Secret History of English Literature, and How Novels Work and has edited the Oxford World Classics editions of Sense and Sensibility and Emma as well as a number of works by Daniel Defoe and Samuel Johnson's Lives of the Poets. For a transcript and show notes, visit https://jasna.org/austen/podcast/ep19.Visit our website: www.jasna.orgFollow us on Instagram and FacebookSubscribe to the podcast on our YouTube channelEmail: podcast@jasna.org

Welcome to CHRISTMAS at Charles Dickens: A Brain on Fire!

Tom Sutcliffe is joined by academic and critic John Mullan and Elodie Harper, the bestselling author of The Wolf Den Trilogy for the Front Row review show. They discuss Jeff Goldblum as a modern-day Zeus in the series Kaos, Rachel Kushner's thriller Creation Lake, which has been longlisted for this year's Booker Prize, and the historical drama Firebrand, staring Jude Law as Henry VIII and Alicia Vikander as his 6th wife Catherine Parr. Plus Jason Solomons reveals his top picks from the Venice Film Festival.Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Claire Bartleet

Executive Producer Sam Dolan and I discuss INSP's Into The Wild Frontier and the episode, John Mullan: RoadBuilder of the West

Knife is Salman Rushdie's memoir about surviving a near-fatal knife attack in August 2022 and the long, painful period of recovery that followed. Ben Power's adaption of the Dickens novel Our Mutual Friend – London Tide – which features songs that he co-wrote with PJ Harvey, has just opened at the National Theatre in London. Baby Reindeer is a new Netflix drama written by and starring Richard Gadd who drew directly on his own shocking experience of being stalked. All three are reviewed by Tahmima Anam and John Mullan.We also hear from tenor Ian Bostridge on mobile phone use in concert halls and why he stopped a performance of Britten's Les Illuminations with the CBSO last night.Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Corinna Jones

A new series of Charles Dickens: A Brain on Fire!

Welcome to Christmas at Charles Dickens a Brain on Fire!At midnight tonight - London time - the very first of our special Christmas episodes will go live. And If you're new to this series, there are some incredible episodes already waiting for you to listen to. Interviews with leading actors, academics, writers, historians, and descendants of the great man him self!Guests such as: Stephen Fry, Miriam Margolyes, Armando Iannucci, Rosie Holt, John Mullan, Lucinda Hawksley, Robert Douglas Fairhurst, Andrew Davies & Alice Loxton … and many many more!I hope you have as much fun listening to these episodes this Christmas, as I have the honour to record them … So wherever in the world you're listening from ... MERRY CHRISTMAS !!!DominicSupport the showIf you like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrardHost: Dominic GerrardSeries Artwork: Léna GibertOriginal Music: Dominic GerrardThank you for listening!

The Killer, starring Michael Fassbender, has been hailed as a return to tense and stylish form for the director David Fincher. Critics Rhianna Dhillon and John Mullan join Tom Sutcliffe to give their views on this new take on the assassin genre. They also venture into uncanny realms with a review of Fantasy: Realms of Imagination, a new exhibition at the British Library which charts tales of fairies, folklore and flights of fancy from Ancient Greece to the modern day. Comedian and gamer Ellie Gibson gives her round up of the cornucopia of new video games out this month, including the Playstation's fastest ever seller Spider-Man 2 and family favourite Super Mario Bros Wonder. Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Harry Parker

In this episode, we read chapters 27 to 31 of Emma. We talk about the entwined group of people who visit one another, how so many scenes read differently the second time through, Miss Bates's monologues, Jane and the piano, reactions to the plan of having a ball, and Emma encouraging Harriet to stop thinking about Mr Elton. The character we discuss is Harriet Smith, and Ellen talks about illegitimacy. In the popular culture section, Harriet talks about the 1995 modernisation Clueless.Also, we are now on Instagram, at reading_jane_austen.Things we mention:General discussion:John Mullan, What Matters in Jane Austen?: Twenty Crucial Puzzles Solved (2012)Character discussion:Edith Lank, ‘“The word was blunder”: Who was Harriet Smith's Mother?‘ Persuasions 7, 1985: 14-15Helena Kelly, Jane Austen, the Secret Radical (2016)Historical discussion:Max Weber (1864-1920)Claire Tomalin, Charles Dickens (2011)Christine Kenyon Jones, ‘Ambiguous Cousinship: Mansfield Park and the Mansfield Family‘ Persuasions On-line 31 (1), 2010BBC, Olivia Colman episode of Who Do You Think You Are (2018), Season 15, Episode 2Popular culture discussion:Main version considered:Paramount Pictures, Clueless (1995) – starring Alicia Silverstone and Paul RuddOther 1990s/2000s high school films based on classic literature10 Things I Hate About You (1999), based on The Taming of the ShrewCruel Intentions(1999), based on Les Liaisons dangereusesShe's All That (1999), based on Pygmalion / My Fair LadyO (2001), based on OthelloShe's the Man(2006), based on Twelfth NightEasy A (2010), based on The Scarlet Letter For a list of music used, see this episode on our website.   

This is the second instalment of a three-part episode. Dickens. Tolstoy. Their names and reputations shake the ground – and so do their books, if you drop one. But whose legacy is more enduring? Whose vision truer and more relevant today? Should you embark on War and Peace or Our Mutual Friend? To battle it out, in 2018 Intelligence Squared brought two celebrated writers, John Mullan for Dickens and Simon Schama for Tolstoy, to our stage. They called on a cast of star actors, including Tom Hiddleston, to bring their arguments to life with readings from the authors' finest works. The debate was chaired by author, playwright and broadcaster Bonnie Greer. We'd love to hear your feedback and what you think we should talk about next, who we should have on and what our future debates should be.  Send us an email or voice note with your thoughts to podcasts@intelligencesquared.com or Tweet us @intelligence2.  And if you'd like to get ad-free access to all Intelligence Squared podcasts, including exclusive bonus content, early access to new episodes and much more, become a supporter of Intelligence Squared today for just £4.99, or the equivalent in your local currency .  Just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dickens. Tolstoy. Their names and reputations shake the ground – and so do their books, if you drop one. But whose legacy is more enduring? Whose vision truer and more relevant today? Should you embark on War and Peace or Our Mutual Friend? To battle it out, in 2018 Intelligence Squared brought two celebrated writers, John Mullan for Dickens and Simon Schama for Tolstoy, to our stage. They called on a cast of star actors, including Tom Hiddleston, to bring their arguments to life with readings from the authors' finest works. The debate was chaired by author, playwright and broadcaster Bonnie Greer. This is the first instalment of a three-part episode. We'd love to hear your feedback and what you think we should talk about next, who we should have on and what our future debates should be.  Send us an email or voice note with your thoughts to podcasts@intelligencesquared.com or Tweet us @intelligence2.  And if you'd like to get ad-free access to all Intelligence Squared podcasts, including exclusive bonus content, early access to new episodes and much more, become a supporter of Intelligence Squared today for just £4.99, or the equivalent in your local currency .  Just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, we are joined by Harriet's partner, Michael, and read chapters 16 to 21 of Emma. We talk about the mystery plots, Emma's fantasies, Emma and Mr Knightley's interactions, and Harriet's encounter with Mr Martin (which had us revisiting the map of Highbury).The character we discuss is Miss Bates, and then Michael talks about army widows and orphans. In the popular culture section, Harriet talks about the 2009 BBC adaptation of Emma.Things we mention:General discussion:John Mullan, What Matters in Jane Austen?: Twenty Crucial Puzzles Solved (2012)Map of Highbury, created by Professor Penny Gay of the University of Sydney, and reproduced with her permission. The map was drawn in the 1980s and published in Penny Gay's work Jane Austen's Emma (Horizon Studies in Literature) Sydney University Press, 1995. More information about it is available in ‘A Hypothetical Map of Highbury‘, Persuasions Online, Volume 36, No. 1, Winter 2015.Character discussion:Elizabeth Gaskell, Cranford (1853)Agatha Christie's books and stories featuring Miss MarpleLucy F. March Phillipps, My life and what shall I do with it? By an old maid (1918)Mary Russell Mitford, Letter to W.W. Ogbourn (April 3, 1815) – read the extract about Jane AustenDorothy L. Sayers, Gaudy Night (1935)Popular culture discussion:Main version considered:BBC, Emma (2009) – starring Romola Garai and Jonny Lee MillerOther versions mentionedBBC, Emma (1972) – starring Doran Godwin and John CarsonMiramax, Emma (1996) – starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Jeremy NorthamITV, Emma (1996) – starring Kate Beckinsale and Mark Strong For a list of music used, see this episode on our website.  

In this episode, we read chapters 11 to 15 of Emma. We talk about the introduction of John and Isabella Knightley, how Emma really doesn't understand the social world, the clash between Isabella and Mr Woodhouse about health – and how Emma and Mr Knightley are running interference – and the way in which the Frank/Jane plot is beginning to be introduced before the Harriet/Mr Elton plot is resolved.The character we discuss is Mr Elton, and then Ellen talks about apothecaries. In the popular culture section, Harriet talks about the 1996 ITV telemovie adaptation of Emma.Things we mention:General discussion:Google Map of Emma locationsCharacter discussion:John Mullan, What Matters in Jane Austen?: Twenty Crucial Puzzles Solved (2012)Historical discussion:Irvine Loudon. 1986. Medical Care and the General Practitioner, 1750-1850. (1986)S W F Holloway, ‘The Apothecaries' Act of 1815: A Reinterpretation.' Medical History 10, 1966: 107-29, 221-36Popular culture discussion:Main version considered:ITV, Emma (1996) – starring Kate Beckinsale and Mark StrongOther versions mentionedBBC, Emma (1972) – starring Doran Godwin and John CarsonMiramax, Emma (1996) – starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Jeremy NorthamCreative commons music used:Extract from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Sonata No. 12 in F Major, ii. Adagio.Extract from Joseph Haydn, Piano Sonata No. 38. Performance by Ivan Ilić, recorded in Manchester in December, 2006. File originally from IMSLP.Extract from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Sonata No. 13 in B-Flat Major, iii. Allegretto Grazioso. File originally from Musopen.Extract from George Frideric Handel, Suite I, No. 2 in F Major, ii. Allegro. File originally from Musopen.Extract from Ludwig van Beethoven, Piano Sonata No. 28 in A major. File originally from Musopen.

More than anything else, the end matters to the novel reader. Novelists, including Austen and Dickens, sometimes changed their minds about their endings, using these changes of mind to explore how an ending satisfies, or fails to satisfy, our expectations.The lecture will explore the rise of the indeterminate ending, from Henry James on. And it will suggest how an ending can, for worse as well as for better, retrospectively change our experience of a novel.A lecture by John Mullan recorded on 5 April 2023 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London.The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/endings-novelGresham College has offered free public lectures for over 400 years, thanks to the generosity of our supporters. There are currently over 2,500 lectures free to access. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to learn from some of the greatest minds. To support Gresham's mission, please consider making a donation: https://gresham.ac.uk/support/Website:  https://gresham.ac.ukTwitter:  https://twitter.com/greshamcollegeFacebook: https://facebook.com/greshamcollegeInstagram: https://instagram.com/greshamcollegeSupport the show

Until the 1970s, historical fiction was a scorned genre that belonged to Georgette Heyer and Jean Plaidy. Over recent decades, literary fiction has turned back to History, from Hilary Mantel's Thomas Cromwell trilogy to Helen Dunmore, Francis Spufford and Eleanor Catton. In the nineteenth century the historical novel had been more respected, with examples (sometimes impressive, sometimes absurd) from Scott, Dickens, and George Eliot.This lecture will examine the genre's vicissitudes (while noticing Georgette Heyer's novelistic virtues).A lecture by John Mullan recorded on 1 March 2023 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London.The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/historical-fictionGresham College has offered free public lectures for over 400 years, thanks to the generosity of our supporters. There are currently over 2,500 lectures free to access. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to learn from some of the greatest minds. To support Gresham's mission, please consider making a donation: https://gresham.ac.uk/support/Website:  https://gresham.ac.ukTwitter:  https://twitter.com/greshamcollegeFacebook: https://facebook.com/greshamcollegeInstagram: https://instagram.com/greshamcollegeSupport the show

General: Murder In Old Bombay. Captain Jim and Lady Diana Mysteries Book One. From Macmillan books. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250269546/murderinoldbombay And on audio https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Murder-in-Old-Bombay-Audiobook/1250775043?qid=1673616961&sr=1-2&ref=a_search_c3_lProduct_1_2&pf_rd_p=c6e316b8-14da-418d-8f91-b3cad83c5183&pf_rd_r=YJ45A8E0Q4ZC1DX4Y7RN&pageLoadId=5U11lQEHJx2bK4W0&creativeId=41e85e98-10b8-40e2-907d-6b663f04a42d Peril At the Exposition. Captain Jim and Lady Diana Mysteries Book Two. From MacMillan books https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250855046/perilattheexposition And on audio https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Peril-at-the-Exposition-Audiobook/B09GC69JCB?qid=1673616961&sr=1-1&ref=a_search_c3_lProduct_1_1&pf_rd_p=c6e316b8-14da-418d-8f91-b3cad83c5183&pf_rd_r=YJ45A8E0Q4ZC1DX4Y7RN&pageLoadId=5U11lQEHJx2bK4W0&creativeId=41e85e98-10b8-40e2-907d-6b663f04a42dhttps://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250855060 The Spanish Diplomat's Secret. Book Three in the series, to be released later this year: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250855060 Nev March's website: https://nevmarch.com/ Follow: Follow Nev on Twitter: https://twitter.com/nevmarch On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NevMarch/ References: Nev's previous appearance on the podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/116-nev-march-murder-in-old-bombay/id1417717946?i=1000548023723 The Chicago World's Fair legacy site https://worldsfairchicago1893.com/ John Mullan's book on Dickens https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/artful-dickens-9781408866818/ John Mullan's interview with Iona https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/136-john-mullan/id1417717946?i=1000587632804 Vaseem Khan's website and books can be found at https://vaseemkhan.com/ Time stamps: 1.01 Opening and introductions. 2.25 The Chicago World's Fair 1893 as a setting for the novel. Nev describes how the events provide a background for the beginnings of the political polarization that we see today. 6.00 Iona alludes to the influences of writers such as Dickens and Wilkie Collins on the novels with additional reference to John Mullan's work on Dickens. 14.08 Iona reads an excerpt from the book. 21.22 The real-life events featured in the book. The plight of poor and immigrant workers at the time and the complex morality of their employers in a precarious financial market. The way in which current situations across the world and within the USA itself are reflected in the challenges faced by the protagonists in the novel. 28.40 The immigrant experience in real life and for the protagonists, Diana and Jim. 32.55 Identity and belonging as separate. How the character Jim's maturity is evident in this second novel when compared to the first. 44.06 Iona reads another passage. 47.51 Nev discusses her desire to portray Diana and Jim's sex life through a historically accurate lens. The dangers of childbirth for women, both historically and in present day America and across the world. 57.20 How ahistorical representations of sexual relationships in novels and media produced today can be jarring. The way in which Jim's background and experience as an illegitimate child informs his behavior around sex and demonstrates his moral character. 1.02.20 Nev's third book of the series, The Spanish Diplomat's Secret, will be released in Autumn / Winter 2023. This time, the couple will be on board a liner sailing across the Atlantic towards Liverpool. 1.07.02 Nev gives some advice for budding writers including reading a variety of genres and using lists to free up brain space, allowing room for joy in writing. 1.10.37 Final reading from Iona. 1.12.18 Thanks and outro.

Years ago, I was flipping through TV channels and came across Hugh Laurie, of Dr. House fame, decked out in 19th-century English gentleman garb. Because I was a House fan, I was curious about what Hugh Laurie sounded like with his native British accent, so I paused my channel surfing to find out.Then I brought up the title and saw that I was watching Sense and Sensibility. "Ugh. Jane Austen. No way I would enjoy that," I thought. I associated Jane Austen with foo-fooey lady stuff. So my plan was to flip the channel as soon as I heard Dr. House talk British.Two hours later, the end credits for Sense and Sensibility scrolled down the screen. I had watched the entire thing. Didn't even get up to go the bathroom.Not only did I watch the whole movie, I remember thinking, "Man, that was really good."Thanks to Dr. House, my resistance to Austen was broken, and I found myself genuinely curious about her books. So I got the free version of her collected works and slowly started working my way through what are arguably her three best: Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, and Emma. And I'll be darned if I didn't truly enjoy them all.If you're a dude who's written off Jane Austen's work as I once did, perhaps today's podcast will convince you that there's something in it for women and men alike and encourage you to give her novels a try. My guest is John Mullan, a professor of English and the author of What Matters in Jane Austen? John and I discuss the literary innovation Austen pioneered that influenced the likes of Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove and will give your social agility a healthy workout. John then explains why soldiers and Winston Churchill turned to Austen during the world wars. We also discuss the philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre's argument that Austen's work was "the last great representative of the classical tradition of virtues," Austen's idea of manliness, and how a man's choice of a wife will shape his character. And John shares his recommendation for which Austen novel men should read first.Resources Related to the EpisodeAoM Article: Why Every Man Should Read Jane AustenEditions of Jane Austen's works available in the public domainEditions of Sense and Sensibility and Emmawith introductions by JohnAoM Podcast #824: Lonesome Dove and Life's Journey Through UncertaintyRudyard Kipling's short story "The Janeites"After Virtue by Alasdair MacIntyreConnect With John MullanJohn's Faculty PageListen to the Podcast! (And don't forget to leave us a review!)

What is it about Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol that has enchanted the public since its publication in 1843? Few people are as well placed to answer that question than John Mullan and Simon Callow. Mullan is a professor of English literature, whose recent book, The Artful Dickens, reveals the tricks and ploys of this most eccentric of literary geniuses. Callow, renowned actor, director and author, has written two books on Dickens, portrayed him on film and television, and has been thrilling audiences since 2011 with his sold-out one-man performances of A Christmas Carol.  Mullan and Callow join us on the podcast to celebrate this most beloved of Dickens' stories and discuss how a work which Dickens originally intended to be a political tract about the misery of the Victorian poor became one of the most enduring Christmas classics.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

General Visit John's academic webpage for more information on his publications: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/english/people/john-mullan John's book ‘What Matters in Jane Austen: Twenty Crucial Puzzles Solved': https://www.amazon.com/What-Matters-Jane-Austen-Crucial/dp/B00BNI1Z8Y Jane Austen's books: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/68 References Iona's Areo article ‘Writing Wrongs: Why Academics Write So Badly and How That Hurts Them': https://areomagazine.com/2020/07/06/writing-wrongs-why-academics-write-so-badly-and-how-that-hurts-them/ Timestamps 0:00 Opening and introduction, with some remarks on obscurity and lucidity in academic writing. 3:30 Austen as revolutionary literary stylist: Iona reads from John's book on her. 8:15 Iona reads a passage from Austen's ‘Persuasion'. 12:11 John discusses Austen's techniques in this passage, particularly her innovation in creating free indirect style. 21:03 Iona reads the next couple of paragraphs of ‘Persuasion'; further discussion of Austen's subtle techniques and themes follows. 30:20 The importance of male sexuality in Austen (“in want of a wife”). 38:46 Austen's underrated comic genius. 47:00 More on Austen's men: rakes, celibates, and premarital sex. 54:25 Marriage, sex, and finality in Austen (and marriage as permanent fate in literature more generally). 1:05:00 Idiolects and character in Austen (and the controversy over Austen on the ten pound note). 1:14:20 Austen's writing is both very simple and richly complex. 1:18:31 The importance of “impossible!” in Austen. 1:19:21 John's advice for re-reading Austen and some final reflections on her work. 1:23:11 Last words and outro.

In this episode we hear some of the highlights of Telstra chairman John Mullan's statements at this week's AGM and we talk about the news of the week with CommsDay chief editor Simon Dux

Michael Winterbottom discusses writing and directing a SKY TV drama, This England, starring Kenneth Branagh as Boris Johnson during his tumultuous first months as Prime Minister and the first wave of the COVID pandemic. GALWAD, an ambitious, multiplatform arts project set in Wales, imagines what it would be like if we could receive messages from people living in 2052. Audiences can follow the story as it unfolds across the week, both online and on social media, and watch a broadcast of the whole event on Sky Arts. The lead producer Claire Doherty and lead writer Owen Sheers, explain why they wanted to push the boundaries of storytelling. The literary critic John Mullan and the novelist Katherine Rundell discuss the life and work of Hilary Mantel.

We nerd out over our favorite Austens and why. We mention the book “What Matters in Jane Austen? 20 Crucial Puzzles Solved” by John Mullan. Get it asap cause after Elizabeth reads it, we will be discussing our favorite parts!

Chaired by Linda Jaivin “What is so good about Dickens' novels?” asks John Mullan – and then proceeds to answer in thirteen essays of exquisite prose. From Dickens' evocation of the senses, particularly taste and smell, to his inventiveness with names; from the melodrama of Little Dorrit to the high-mindedness of Hard Times, Mullan's Dickens emerges as a shapeshifter and conjuror extraordinaire. Whether you know your Twist from your Copperfield, or you're a complete Dickens newbie, The Artful Dickens is a riveting read and brings a welcome focus to one of the English language's greatest minds.

In this episode, we read Chapters 12 to 16 of Mansfield Park. We talk about why Fanny refuses to act, why Edmund agrees to join in, the sheer amount of comedy in the scenes of the theatricals, and the Cinderella aspect of the plot.We talk about Tom Bertram, and then Ellen looks at theatre in the Regency period, and why Fanny and Edmund disapprove of the the theatricals. Harriet talks about the popular culture versions, including some modernisations and a variation that she hasn't looked at before.Things we mention: General and character discussion:John Wiltshire [Editor], The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Jane Austen: Mansfield Park (2005)Lionel Trilling, “Mansfield Park“, Partisan Review 21 (September-October 1954): 492-511. Also published in Encounter, September 1954: 9-19.Sheila Kaye-Smith and G.B. Stern, Talking of Jane Austen (1943) Historical discussion:Chuck Hudson, ‘Theatre in Georgian England' (2015)Elizabeth Inchbald, Lovers's Vows [full text on Project Gutenberg] (1798)Deirdre Le Faye [Editor], Jane Austen's Letters (1995)Lionel Trilling, “Mansfield Park“, Partisan Review 21 (September-October 1954): 492-511. Also published in Encounter, September 1954: 9-19.Claudia L. Johnson and Clara Tuite, 30 Great Myths about Jane Austen (2020)Popular culture discussion:Adaptations:BBC, Mansfield Park (1983) – starring Sylvestra Le Touzel and Nicholas Farrell (6 episodes)Miramax, Mansfield Park (1999) – starring Frances O'Connor and Jonny Lee MillerITV, Mansfield Park (2007) – starring Billie Piper and Blake RitsonModernisations:Westerly Films, Allagash Films, Metropolitan (1990) – starring Carolyn Farina and Edward ClementsYouTube, Foot in the Door Theatre, From Mansfield With Love (2014-2015)D.E. Stevenson, Celia's House (1943)John Mullan, Live at the Hay Festival (2014) [YouTube] – referred to in the discussion of Celia's HouseVariations:Lona Manning, A Contrary Wind(2017), A Marriage of Attachment (2018) and A Different Kind of Woman (2020) For a list of music used, see this episode on our website.  

Dominic is joined by the celebrated writer, broadcaster, journalist and literary critic: Professor John Mullan. They have a lively discussion on Great Expectations with a particular emphasis on some of the 'forgotten' characters - such as Biddy.John's celebrated book The Artful Dickens is a must read for anyone wanting to deepen their appreciation of Dickens' genius and influence on contemporary fictionIf you'd like to support this podcast series please feel free to make a donation here: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrardSupport the show

Jane Austen created the definitive picture of Georgian England. No writer matches Austen's sensitive ear for the hypocrisy and irony lurking beneath the genteel conversation. That's the argument of the Janeites, but to the aficionados of Emily Brontë they are the misguided worshippers of a circumscribed mind. In Wuthering Heights, Brontë dispensed with Austen's niceties and the upper-middle class drawing rooms of Bath and the home counties. Her backdrop is the savage Yorkshire moors, her subject the all-consuming passions of the heart. To help you decide who should be crowned queen of English letters we have the lined up the best advocates to make the case for each writer. In this event, chaired by author and critic Erica Wagner, we invited guests including author Kate Mosse, Professor and author John Mullan, and actors Mariah Gale, Samuel West and Dominic West, to discuss each writer's influence. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, we read Chapters 4 to 7 of Mansfield Park. We talk about the character-revealing scenes, how the presentation of Fanny may make some readers dislike her, why Maria became engaged to Mr Rushworth, and Henry Crawford's behaviour.We discuss the character of Mary Crawford – who is perhaps almost as divisive as Fanny Price – and then Ellen talks about baronets, Members of Parliament, and the idea of ‘interest'. Harriet considers how the three adaptations, and two of the modernisations, present these chapters. Things we mention: General and character discussion:John Wiltshire [Editor], The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Jane Austen: Mansfield Park (2005)Lionel Trilling, “Mansfield Park“, Partisan Review 21 (September-October 1954): 492-511. Also published in Encounter, September 1954: 9-19.Sheila Kaye-Smith and G.B. Stern, Talking of Jane Austen (1943) and More Talk of Jane Austen (1950)John Mullan, Live at the Hay Festival (2014) [YouTube]Kingsley Amis, “What Became of Jane Austen?”, The Spectator, 4 October 1957 – republished in What Became of Jane Austen? And Other Questions (1970)The Daily Knightley (2021) [podcast] Popular culture discussion:Adaptations:BBC, Mansfield Park (1983) – starring Sylvestra Le Touzel and Nicholas Farrell (6 episodes)Miramax, Mansfield Park (1999) – starring Frances O'Connor and Jonny Lee MillerITV, Mansfield Park (2007) – starring Billie Piper and Blake RitsonModernisations:YouTube, Foot in the Door Theatre, From Mansfield With Love (2014-2015)D.E. Stevenson, Celia's House (1943)Creative commons music used: Extract from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Sonata No. 12 in F Major, ii. Adagio.Extract from Joseph Haydn, Piano Sonata No. 38. Performance by Ivan Ilić, recorded in Manchester in December, 2006. File originally from IMSLP.Extract from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Sonata No. 13 in B-Flat Major, iii. Allegretto Grazioso. File originally from Musopen.Extract from George Frideric Handel, Suite I, No. 2 in F Major, ii. Allegro. File originally from Musopen. Extract from Ludwig van Beethoven, Piano Sonata No. 28 in A major. File originally from Musopen. 

Topics covered : Tragic accident, trauma, grief.This week I speak to mother, wife and nurse Geraldine Mullan.Originally from Galway, Geraldine met John Mullan from Moville, Donegal in 2010. 2 years later they were married and lived a very happy life together with their two children Tomás and Amelia, until a devastating accident changed everything.On the 20th of August last year, a family day out ended in a nightmare when their car crashed into Lough Foyle.John (49), Tomás (14) and Amelia (6) tragically all lost their lives while Geraldine miraculously survived.In this conversation she talks about how she misses them every single day, the support from her family, friends and the local community and the ‘Mullan Hope Centre', which recently opened to honour the memory of her gorgeous family.This was an incredibly challenging conversation for Geraldine for obvious reasons, but her strength and composure are remarkable. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

If you like feckless boobs who are also giant crysacks (Megan does not), do we have a book for you! Henry Mackenzie's The Man of Feeling (1771) is a classic sentimental novel with all the trimmings -- a useless protagonist who thinks crying is hot and who can't stop getting conned by every sharp, coxcomb, and failson in London. It's a delightfully ridiculous book, one we suspect is very much in on the joke, and we talk discourses of feeling, sentimental critiques of empire and capital, and the funniest sorry sorry we meant saddest death scene in all of eighteenth-century literature. We read the Oxford edition edited by Brian Vickers with notes and introduction by Stephen Bending and Stephen Bygrave. There's a ton of scholarship on sentiment and the related "cult of sensibility," and we highly recommend both Janet Todd's Sensibility: An Introduction and John Mullan's Sentiment and Sociability: The Language of Feeling in the Eighteenth Century. Find us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook @betterreadpod, and email us nice things at betterreadpodcast@gmail.com. Find Tristan on Twitter @tjschweiger, Katie @katiekrywo, and Megan @tuslersaurus.

eA lively and entertaining interview with Professor John Mullan about theraprutic reading and his very favourite authors Charles Dickens and Janes Austen.John takes us on a deep dive into what we can enjoy in literature and how he finds humour to be the very best comfort read possible. We travel through literature from Shakespeare, stopping at 18th century literature, then right though to modern day authors and thrillers. John's most recent books:The Artful DickensWhat Matters in Jane Austen?Authors and works mentioned in the podcast:King Lear by William ShakespeareHamlet by William Shakespeare Oedipus Rex by SophoclesCharles BukowskiJude the Obscure by Thomas HardyDante's InfernoJane AustenCharles DickensDombey and SonGreat ExpectationsThe Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence SterneVladimir NabokovAgatha ChristieP.D JamesMiddlemarch by George EliotLie with Me by Sabine DurrantEmma by Jane AustenMoby Dick by  Herman MelvilleA la recherche du temps perdu (In Search of Lost Time) by Marcel ProustAnna Karenina by Leo TolstoyThe Prelude by William WordsworthGirls of Slender Means by Muriel SparkSymposium by Muriel Spark 

Patrick Millikin in conversation with John Mullan

From Horace Walpole to Ann Radcliffe, renegade novelists of the eighteenth century wanted to claim back the supernatural for fiction and so invented the Gothic Novel. This lecture pursues the gift of Gothic to later novelists, seeing how great Victorian novelists like Emily Brontë, Charlotte Brontë and Charles Dickens were entranced by the supernatural. Finally, it looks at how the possibility of supernatural explanation energises contemporary novelists like Hilary Mantel and Sarah Waters.A lecture by John Mullan, 14 AprilThe transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/supernatural-fictionGresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website.Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

The Bafta Film Awards have unveiled a highly diverse nominations list, with 16 of the 24 acting nominees this year coming from ethnic minority groups. This follows criticsm in previous years about shortlists that didn’t reflect modern Britain. Film maker, poet and founder of The Caramel Film Club Be Manzini joins us to ask whether this is the beginning of greater representation. Violinist Hilary Hahn’s new CD ‘Paris’ brings together music inspired by a city that has been pivotal in her career. She explains her connection to the pieces she’s recorded, how she juggles pandemic problems with being a professional violinist, and how she hopes to make changes for the next generation of musicians. Diyora Shadijanova and Stig Abell discuss the rise of competitive reading. With more and more people setting themselves a reading target and sharing their book history online, they consider whether social media has made the act of reading more performative than personal. The academic John Mullan has been recommending re-reading Jane Austen during lockdown. In the last in the series, tonight he presents the case for Persuasion. Presenter: Elle Osili-Wood Producer: Simon Richardson

Why did stories of criminals become irresistible for novelists? Starting with works like Moll Flanders in the eighteenth century, this lecture goes on to examine the role of criminals in Dickens, keen to let his readers and characters experience what Pip in Great Expectations calls 'the taint of crime'. To what ends? How does the recent genre fiction of novelists like Patricia Highsmith and Ruth Rendell return us to the transgressive pleasures of Defoe's criminal autobiographies?A lecture by John Mullan 24 FebruaryThe transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/crime-fictionGresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website.Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

For the final episode of season 2, Alex and Jimmy chat to renowned author and journalist John Mullan all about Little Dorrit. They discuss Dickens' own childhood in Marshalsea Prison, delusions of grandeur and how to get revenge on your ex through the power of words.

Why do we laugh? This is the question the evolutionary ecologist Jonathan Silvertown sets out to answer in his latest book, The Comedy of Error. He looks back at laughter’s evolutionary origins, and to the similarities and differences in humour across cultures. The sell-out comic Sindhu Vee swapped a career in investment banking for one in comedy. She is an expert at exploiting cultural differences in her jokes, having been born in India, lived and studied in the Philippines and the US, before settling in the UK. John Mullan holds up Charles Dickens as a master novelist who could switch with ease from tragedy to comedy in a sentence. In The Artful Dickens he explores the tricks and ploys the writer used and how his humour has stood the test of time. Producer: Katy Hickman Photograph by Matt Crockett

In today's episode, I was joined by John Mullan, Lord Northcliffe Professor of Modern English Literature at University College London. He has published extensively on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century literature, and is a wealth of knowledge on all things Dickens. We discuss the man himself and his writings, and the unique Victorian context in which inspired the great novelist. Subscribe to History Hit and you'll get access to hundreds of history documentaries, as well as every single episode of this podcast from the beginning (400 extra episodes). We're running live podcasts on Zoom, we've got weekly quizzes where you can win prizes, and exclusive subscriber only articles. It's the ultimate history package. Just go to historyhit.tv to subscribe. Use code 'pod1' at checkout for your first month free and the following month for just £/€/$1. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In today's episode, I was joined by John Mullan, Lord Northcliffe Professor of Modern English Literature at University College London. He has published extensively on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century literature, and is a wealth of knowledge on all things Dickens. We discuss the man himself and his writings, and the unique Victorian context in which inspired the great novelist. Subscribe to History Hit and you'll get access to hundreds of history documentaries, as well as every single episode of this podcast from the beginning (400 extra episodes). We're running live podcasts on Zoom, we've got weekly quizzes where you can win prizes, and exclusive subscriber only articles. It's the ultimate history package. Just go to historyhit.tv to subscribe. Use code 'pod1' at checkout for your first month free and the following month for just £/€/$1. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Think you know everything there is to know about Charles Dickens? Professor John Mullan is back with his new book The Artful Dickens to show us Dickens and his work in a completely new light, exploring the famous author's often overlooked experimental and ground-breaking techniques. John came on the show to talk everything Dickens, from the original serialisation of his novels (which gets Simon very excited) to his surviving manuscripts and why he was often dismissed in his time. Whether you're a fan of Dickens or not, this episode (and John's book!) will make you think again about one of Britain's best-loved authors. And, yes, we do discuss Muppet's Christmas Carol. Hosted by Simon Jones and Steph McKenna. Find out more about our Creative Writing Courses: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/creative-writing-online/  More info on why we're asking for donations to Escalator: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/escalator-donations-2020/ Music by Bennet Maples.

How does fiction make itself seem like fact? Professor John Mullan begins where novels begin: with Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, which showed every novel that followed how to make a 'strange surprising' story seem entirely 'probable' (the word that eighteenth-century pioneers of fiction liked to use). He will explore the tradition of factuality in the English novel, ending with the novels of Kazuo Ishiguro and examples of recent auto-fiction.A lecture by John Mullan 28 OctoberThe transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/convincing-fictionGresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website.Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

Armando Iannucci and John Mullan on Dickens; John Lanchester; new Black British writing

Comrades! It’s our 50th episode!! And what better way to celebrate than wrapping up our discussion of one of the raddest books of all time, Laurence Sterne’s The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1759-67)? Fear not, we are *far* from exhausting the staggering number of dick jokes you find in these spry nine volumes. But we also talk about the politics and philosophy behind the sentimental novel, how Sterne simultaneously loved that genre and thought it was a prime target for satire, and how discourses of feeling and of the body intersect. In addition, we finally get to the amours of Uncle Toby and the Widow Wadman and discover that reading a goddamn map is apparently an extremely horny thing to do. And, as a teaser to our upcoming Henry Fielding episode, we land a few sick burns on the sentimental novel’s OG himself, Samuel Richardson. We read the Penguin edition, with an introduction by Christopher Ricks and edited by Melvyn New and Joan New. There’s a ton of great scholarship on the sentimental novel on both sides of the Atlantic, but John Mullan’s Sentiment and Sociability: The Language of Feeling in the Eighteenth Century remains a terrific account of the conceptual underpinnings of the genre and has a ton on Sterne’s place within it. Find us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook @betterreadpod, and email us nice things at betterreadpodcast@gmail.com. Find Tristan on Twitter @tjschweiger, Katie @katiekrywo, and Megan @tuslersaurus.

Josephine Mackerras discusses her award winning first feature film, Alice, which she has directed, written and produced. Alice is living an enviable life in Paris with her handsome husband and young son. Then a card payment is refused, their bank account is empty and her husband disappears. He has spent their money using expensive escorts, which gives Alice an idea about how to save her home and her son – and achieve some independence and control. Welsh artist Sean Edwards has won a Turner Bursary of £10,000 for his work, which includes the exhibition Undo Things Done which represented Wales at the Venice Biennale last year and featured his mother's voice which was broadcast live in the gallery each afternoon from her home in Cardiff. We speak to the artist about his work and what this money, which has replaced the Turner Prize this year, will allow him to do. As lockdown restrictions lift, including on live performance, critic Sam Marlowe gives us a run down of what theatre will be happening around the country this summer and how venues are making it work. Many of us have been reading for solace and distraction in recent months. Professor of English, John Mullan has been making the case for picking up Jane Austen - tonight he tries to tempt us with Mansfield Park. Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Hannah Robins

In this episode, we talk about the way Darcy is reintroduced into the narrative, Jane Austen's thoughts on architecture and landscaping, the possible connection between Pemberley and Chatsworth and how Georgiana Darcy is presented in a very different manner from Anne de Burgh.We discuss Elizabeth Bennet, perhaps Jane Austen's most popular heroine. Ellen talks about the landed gentry, and Harriet looks at how the film and television adaptations treat the visit to Pemberley – including the scene that is probably the best known in all the adaptations.Things we mention: Books:Donald J. Greene, ‘The Original of Pemberley' (1968), later collected in The Selected Essays of Donald Green (2004)John Mullan, What Matters in Jane Austen?: Twenty Crucial Puzzles Solved (2012)George Eliot, Middlemarch (1871)Popular culture:MGM, Pride and Prejudice (1940) – starring Greer Garson and Laurence OlivierBBC, Pride and Prejudice (1980) – starring Elizabeth Garvie and David RintoulBBC, Pride and Prejudice (1995) – starring Jennifer Ehle and Colin FirthFocus Features, Pride & Prejudice (2005) – starring Keira Knightley and Matthew MacfadyenBBC, Death Comes to Pemberley (2011) – starring Anna Maxwell Martin and Matthew RhysYouTube, Lizzie Bennet Diaries (2012) – starring Ashley Clements and Daniel Vincent GordhCreative commons music used Extract from Joseph Haydn, Piano Sonata No. 38. Performance by Ivan Ilić, recorded in Manchester in December, 2006. File originally from IMSLP.Extract from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Sonata No. 13 in B-Flat Major, iii. Allegretto Grazioso. File originally from Musopen.Extract from George Frideric Handel, Suite I, No. 2 in F Major, ii. Allegro. File originally from Musopen. Extract from Christoph Willibald Gluck, Orfeo ed Euridice. File from IMSLP. Extract from Ludwig van Beethoven, Piano Sonata No. 28 in A major. File originally from Musopen. 

Comedian Angela Barnes is the new host of Radio 4’s stalwart show The News Quiz. Fresh from recording the first episode of the new series, we ask how they’re keeping it funny when the only story is a deadly virus, and what it’s been like making the show under lockdown when there’s no audience to laugh at your jokes. When the coronavirus pandemic struck, Women’s Prize-winning novelist and games writer Naomi Alderman was in the middle of a new writing project. The subject? A piece of speculative fiction about a global pandemic. Alderman joins us to talk about the dilemmas a novelist faces when unpublished work is overtaken by real events. John Mullan on the delights of Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen's first published novel, that juxtaposes pain and pleasure to powerful effect. And how the physical qualities of viruses are re-created by two very different artists: Luke Jerram – the latest in his Glass Microbiology series of glass sculptures is a replica of Covid 19 - and the political cartoonist Martin Rowson. They talk to Front Row about the terrible beauty of viruses and the human attributes we project onto them. Image: Covid-19 glass sculpture by Luke Jerram Image credit: Luke Jerram Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Sarah Johnson

Comedian Russell Howard on his new lockdown TV show, Home Time. Video conferenced from his childhood bedroom, he gives his entertaining take on life in quarantine, with remote music performances and interviews with comedians and key workers. The 2020 International Prize for Arabic Fiction has been announced today. The winner is Algerian novelist Abdelouahab Aissaoui for The Spartan Court which is set in the early 19th century when Algeria was invaded and captured by the French. Aissaoui is the first Algerian to win the prize, designed to increase the international reach of Arabic fiction. Scottish folk singer-songwriter Siobhan Miller is the three times MG Alba Scots Trad Music Awards Singer of the Year and has also won a Radio 2 Folk Award. She discusses her fourth album, All Is Not Forgotten, and performs live. While we’re stuck at home John Mullan is making the case for us raising our spirits by reading, or re-reading, Austen novels. Tonight he makes the case for Northanger Abbey. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Hannah Robins

In this episode, we look at chapters 1 to 6 of Pride and Prejudice. We talk about how the book sets up the relationship between love and marriage, the way the characters are introduced so gradually, what we see in Darcy and the fact that we quickly learn how much money everyone has. We discuss Mrs Bennet in some detail, and then Ellen talks about class in the early nineteenth century, and the type of neighbourhood Pride and Prejudice is set in. Harriet gives an overview of the pop culture versions of the book (dividing them into adaptations, modernisations, continuations and variations) and then looks at how some of them deal with the opening sentence, the period setting and the character of Mrs Bennet.Things we mention:John Mullan, What Matters in Jane Austen?: Twenty Crucial Puzzles Solved (2012)John Burrows, Computation into Criticism: Study of Jane Austen's Novels and an Experiment in Method (1987)Adaptations of the bookMGM, Pride and Prejudice (1940) - starring Greer Garson and Laurence OlivierBBC, Pride and Prejudice (1980) - starring Elizabeth Garvie and David RintoulBBC, Pride and Prejudice (1995) - starring Jennifer Ehle and Colin FirthFocus Features, Pride & Prejudice (2005) - starring Keira Knightley and Matthew MacfadyenModernisations of the bookPathé Pictures International, Bride and Prejudice (2004) - starring Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Martin HendersonYouTube, Lizzie Bennet Diaries (2012) - starring Ashley Clements and Daniel Vincent GordhBestboy Pictures, Pride and Prejudice: A Latter Day Comedy (2003) - starring Kam Heskin and Orlando SealeHelen Fielding, Bridget Jones's Diary (1996) - also a 2001 filmCurtis Sittenfeld, Eligible (2016)Continuations of the bookP.D. James, Death Comes to Pemberley (2011) - also a 2013 BBC mini-seriesVariations on the bookSeth Graham-Smith and Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2009) - also a 2016 filmCreative commons music used:Extract from Joseph Haydn, Piano Sonata No. 38. Performance by Ivan Ilić, recorded in Manchester in December, 2006. File originally from IMSLP.Extract from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Sonata No. 13 in B-Flat Major, iii. Allegretto Grazioso. File originally from Musopen.Extract from 

We look at rotters in fiction: do women have equal status with men when it comes to being bad in books? Rotters have populated the novel since Robert Lovelace first appeared in Samuel Richardson’s Clarissa nearly two centuries ago. But what exactly is a rotter, how do rotters differ from cads and, when women are rotters, are they given equal treatment by both their writers and their readers? John Mullan, Professor of Literature at UCL and critic Alex Clark discuss the rotter's progress. “Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun…” It is 200 years, to the very day, since John Keats wrote To Autumn, distilling the sights, sounds, even smell of the season and capturing its essence in three carefully crafted stanzas that are among the best-loved in the language. We hear a reading and Alison Brackenbury explains how the poem works and her response to it as a poet. The Science Museum and BBC Radio 4 have been collaborating on an exploration of the relationship between art and science over 250 years. The result is The Art of Innovation: From Enlightenment to Dark Matter, which is an exhibition, a book and a 20-part radio series. Dr Tilly Blyth, Principal Curator, and one of the programme presenters tells Stig about Joseph Wright’s famous painting of a scientific lecture; how Turner captured impact of the emerging age of steam and how artists tackle depicting science that can’t be seen. Presenter: Stig Abell Producer: Simon Richardson

Hustlers is a new crime drama film based on a 2015 article in New York magazine about a group of strippers in the USA who decided to embezzle money from the men who came to their club. A Very Expensive Poison at The Old Vic in London tells the story of the murder of Alexander Litvinenko, the former KGB man who was poisoned in 2006 in London by agents of the Russian state. A trio of autobiographical works by the late Danish novelist Tove Ditlevsen have just been published: Childhood, Youth and Dependency. There's an extensive exhibition of art by William Blake just opened at Tate Britain State Of The Union is a BBC TV series written by Nicjk Hornby and starring Chris O'Dowd and Rosamund Pike as a married couple undergoing marital therapy Tom Sutcliffe's guests are Liz Jensen, Amber Butchart and John Mullan. The producer is Oliver Jones Podcast extra recommendations: Liz: Guerrilla gardening John: Gloucester Crescent by William Miller Amber: Margate Caves and Leiden Textile Research Centre in Holland https://www.trc-leiden.nl/ Tom: The Lives of Lucian Freud by William Feaver + Evan Davis' Sharpiegate on Thursday's PM on Radio 4 https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0008bb7 (listen from 41.22)

BBC One’s big autumn thriller serial is The Capture. Telling the story of former soldier Shaun Emery, whose conviction for an unlawful killing during active duty is overturned because of flawed video evidence. The drama delves into the increasing reality of misinformation and fake news. Scriptwriter Ben Chanan talks to Samira about the manipulation of video evidence in our criminal justice system. Venice Film Festival is well underway where the films coming to our screens in the autumn compete for the coveted Golden Lion Prize. Critic Jason Solomon fills us in on the highlights including Joaquin Phoenix’s portrayal of the Joker, the new Polanski film and Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver’s depiction of a divorce in Marriage Story. A Freedom of Information request placed by the Daily Mail has revealed that in 2016 the Royal Mint was considering honouring children’s author Enid Blyton with a commemorative 50 pence coin, but that officials withdrew the author from consideration because "she [Blyton] is known to have been a racist, sexist, homophobe and not a very well-regarded writer". Literary historian John Mullan and columnist Harriet Hall discuss the resulting furore and consider the ethics of viewing the culture of the past through a contemporary lens. Presenter : Samira Ahmed Producer : Dymphna Flynn

5:20 How to begin a story with a moment of unexpected change 5:58 Evolutionary psychology and storytelling 11:46 Status 16:38 Anti-heroes 24:31 Three routes into story: milieu, what if and argument 28:05 The problem with recipes for storytelling 30:01 The broken protagonist 38:37 Loss of control 50:20 What psychology teaches us about stories and vice versa 53:23 Plot-driven versus character-driven novels 57:08 The novel and the advent of human rights 1:00:18 The idea of the ‘trashy’ novel 1:01:48 TV series & soap operas 1:08:04 The story event 1:14:56 Fantasy 1:16:32 Avoiding cliché & other pitfalls Will Storr’s book, The Science of Storytelling is available in the UK here (and is forthcoming in the US): https://www.amazon.co.uk/Science-Storytelling-Will-Storr/dp/0008276943. You can find Will’s The Heretics: Adventures with the Enemies of Science (2014) here: https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/will-storr/the-heretics/9780330535861 Complete details of all Will’s work can be found here: http://willstorr.com/ You can follow Will on Twitter @wstorr Literary works mentioned: Shakespeare, King Lear and Julius Caesar; T. E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom (1926); Jane Austen, Emma (1815); J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (1997); Patrick Süskind, Perfume (1985); Hogg, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner (1824); Nabokov, Lolita (1955); Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness (1969); Henry Fielding, Tom Jones (1749); Samuel Richardson, Pamela (1740) and Clarissa (1748); Ben Jonson, The Alchemist (ca. 1610); J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings (1954–55). TV, radio, film: Game of Thrones; Lost; Twin Peaks; Breaking Bad; The Sopranos; The Archers; Babylon 5; Star Wars; Star Trek Discovery; Six Feet Under. Other references: Amy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bY9HuVYWn_Y; Tony Tanner, Jane Austen (1986). The critic of Tanner’s I refer to around the 39 minute mark was John Mullan; Roy Baumeister http://www.roybaumeister.com/; James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791); Lynn Hunt, Inventing Human Rights (2007); Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, “The Reasons that Induced Dr. S. to Write a Poem Call’d the Lady’s Dressing Room” (1734). In the podcast, I misattribute lines from this to “Verses Address’d to the Imitator of Horace” (1733).

Award-winning Italian film Happy as Lazzaro is a tale of human unkindness in a remote Italian Village where time stands still, but not in the same way for everyone Caryl Churchill's play Top Girls is revived by The National Theatre; is it hard not to view it nowadays as a period piece? Damian Barr's debut novel: You Will Be Safe Here is set in two separate parts of South Africa's troubled history The Victim is a new 4-part drama on BBC1., following the plaintiff and the accused in a Scottish court case. Can it provide a new twist on the much-worked-over TV formula of crime and courtroom drama and police procedural? A new exhibition at York Art Gallery looks at the work of John Ruskin and the influence of JMW Turner. Tom Sutcliffe's guests are Meg Rosoff, Emma Woolf and John Mullan. The producer is Oliver Jones. Podcast Extra Recommendations Meg: The Alarming Palsy of James Orr by Tom Lee and Don McCullin's Tate Britain exhibition John: Call My Agent on Netflix Emma: 5 Live's podcast Paradise Tom: English Baroque Choir

This week the hedgehog and the fox explore literary anonymity in the company of John Mullan – not the sort of anonymity where the author's name has simply been lost… Read More Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

First Man is a film about astronaut Neil Armstrong's life in the lead-up to the Apollo 11 moon-landing mission. The Modern Couples exhibition at The Barbican Gallery shines a spotlight upon the often under-appreciated partners of artistic geniuses whose contribution to their work and achievements has been hitherto unacknowledged or unknown. Jonathan Price and Eileen Atkins star in The Height Of The Storm, a new play by Florian Zeller translated by Christopher Hampton which has just opened in London The Penguin Book Of The Contemporary British Short Story includes 30 works from writers including Ali Smith, Zadie Smith, Kazuo Ishiguro, Martin Amis, Rose Tremain and many more Informer is a new BBC TV series about a young British Muslim who is coerced into becoming a police informer to infiltrate his own community. Tom Sutcliffe's guests are John Mullan, Tiffany Jenkins and Arifa Akbar. The producer is Oliver Jones Podcast Extra: Arifa recommends: Memoirs of An Asian Football Casual and Ben Okri's short film The Insider Tiffany recommends the Slow Burn Podcast from Slate John recommends The Wife Tom recommends Sondheim's Company

Dickens. Tolstoy. Their names and reputations shake the ground – and so do their books, if you drop one. They are the two greatest novelists from the century when novels were really great. Both captured their countries’ very souls and, as vastly influential social reformers, savagely criticised them as well. But whose legacy is more enduring? Whose vision truer and more relevant today? Should you embark on War and Peace or Our Mutual Friend? To battle it out, Intelligence Squared brought two celebrated writers, John Mullan for Dickens and Simon Schama for Tolstoy, to our stage. They called on a cast of star actors, including Tom Hiddleston, to bring their arguments to life with readings from the authors’ finest works.The debate was chaired by author, playwright and broadcaster Bonnie Greer. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We're back with our second (and final) episode on John Mullan's book, What Matters in Jane Austen: Twenty Crucial Puzzles Solved! This time, Maggie and Kristin tackle the subjects "Did Sisters Sleep Together?" and "What Games Did the Characters Play?" Get ready from some surprising insights that stem from these basic questions, as we plumb the depths of sisterly relationships in Austen's work, and revisit one of the famous set pieces in Mansfield Park: the game of Speculation.

First Impressions fans! We're SO EXCITED to release our discussion of the brilliant book, What Matters in Jane Austen? Twenty Crucial Puzzles Solved by John Mullan. This book is full of surprising connections, fascinating analysis, and deep insight into Austen's life and works. In this episode we dig into two specific chapters of the book, focusing in on the topics of "sex" and "death" in Austen's work to produce our most metal podcast ever! (And you'll have to forgive the several wedding-related digressions.)

Hi First Impressions fans! We know you're all waiting with bated breath for our next major episode, but in the meantime, here's the fourth installment of our movie commentary series for the 1995 Pride and Prejudice miniseries to tide you over. Keep your eye out for our next episode on What Matters in Jane Austen, by John Mullan, which will be coming in the next few weeks!

Black comedy thriller film Thoroughbreds is about 2 American teenage girls who hatch a plot to kill one of their step-fathers. Is it easier to hire an assassin or do it themselves? And will emotions get in the way of such a potentially messy business? Congreve's The Way Of The World at London's Donmar Warehouse is a restoration comedy. But how funny can one make a wildly convoluted 300 year old plot about inheritance funny for today's theatre goers? Richard Powers' latest novel is The Overstory - about mankind's relationship with the arboreal world. Eight stories set around the USA over several centuries come together to make readers rethink their relationship with trees BBC TV is broadcasting a 4 part adaptation of China Mieville's novel The City & The City. It's a complicated speculative fiction work involving two cities which occupy exactly the same space and time but are invisible to each other. Well sort of... See if our reviewers have made sense of the idea The Arts Council Collection tours the UK bringing major works by established and emerging British artists to venues which might not otherwise have access to important contemporary art. The exhibition In My Shoes at Yorkshire Sculpture Park is the opening venue for a chance to see the newest collection additions. Tom Sutcliffe's guests are Jessica Burton, John Mullan and Sarah Crompton. The producer is Oliver Jones.

Joe Wright directs Brecht's Life of Galileo at The Young Vic, reimagining it with a Chemical Brothers rave soundtrack... In science fiction black comedy Colossal, Anne Hathaway plays a woman coping with alcoholism whose alter ego just happens to be a giant space monster. It's a kaiju movie Jimmy McGovern's newest TV offering is Broken which stars Sean Bean as an inner city priest coping with escalating personal and parish pressures. Lucy Hughes-Hallett's novel Peculiar Ground deals with the construction and changing nature of the walls of a country estate across the centuries. Thresholds is an exhibition by Mat Collishaw at Somerset House, re-staging one of the earliest exhibitions of photography in 1839, when William Henry Fox Talbot showed his first prints. Tom Sutcliffe's guests are John Mullan, Laline Paull and Tiffany Jenkins. The producer is Oliver Jones.

John Mullan from University College London delivers a talk titled “Historical Fiction and the Invention of the Literary Novel.” This talk was included in the session titled “Historical Fictions: Historical Perspectives.” Part of “Fictive Histories/Historical Fictions,” a conference held at The Huntington May 12–13, 2017.

Samira Ahmed celebrates the life and work of Jane Austen, ahead of the 200th anniversary of her death.As Jane Austen's portrait is chosen for the new £10 note, Samira Ahmed explores how money dominates her novels, visiting her home at Chawton in Hampshire. John Mullan and Viv Groskop choose the best and worst Austen screen adaptations.Plus, as Austen's final and unfinished novel Sanditon is being turned into a film, Samira talks to adaptor Simon Reade and Emma Clery, writer of Jane Austen - The Banker's Sister. Presenter : Samira AhmedProducer : Dymphna Flynn.

This week on StoryWeb: Michael Cunningham’s novel The Hours. In her fascinating book Virginia Woolf Icon, Brenda Silver examines all the ways Woolf has become a potent international symbol. You can buy a Barnes and Noble canvas bag featuring Woolf’s face, and the British National Portrait Gallery sells thousands of Woolf postcards a month. And of course, the great American playwright Edward Albee famously asked Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? American novelist Michael Cunningham is clearly not afraid of Virginia Woolf. He says of Woolf’s novel Mrs. Dalloway: I suspect any serious reader has a first great book, just the way anybody has a first kiss. For me it was this book. It stayed with me in a way no other book ever has. And it felt like something for me to write about very much the way you might write a novel based on the first time you fell in love. Cunningham’s 1998 novel, The Hours, is a kind of homage to and deep exploration of Mrs. Dalloway, which I discussed in last week’s StoryWeb episode. The Hours is not a rewriting of her 1935 novel per se, but a reimagining, a fractured retelling, both a sequel of sorts to Mrs. Dalloway and a wholly new work on its own. Cunningham says, “I think it’s like the way a jazz musician might do a riff on an older established piece of music. It doesn’t claim or conceal the older piece of music, but it takes that music and turns it into something else.” The Hours weaves together the stories of three women – Laura Brown, an American housewife who is reading Mrs. Dalloway in 1949; Clarissa Vaughn, a late-twentieth century American whose friend Richard, a prominent writer, is dying of AIDS; and Virginia Woolf herself in 1923 as she begins to write Mrs. Dalloway. All three women are presented on one key day in their lives. The novel’s prologue, which you can read online, tells the story of Woolf’s suicide in 1941. The women’s stories comment on each other in provocative ways, and the reader is in for some unexpected plot twists. Though some of have seen The Hours as a derivative knock-off of Woolf’s masterpiece, others see it as a postmodern tour de force, a bold intertextual response to Mrs. Dalloway. As it riffs on one of the most important modernist novels, The Hours is, I believe, a great postmodernist novel. Wondering just what I mean by postmodern? I won’t go all academic on you, but if you take the time to read Mrs. Dalloway and then The Hours, I think you’ll be fascinated by two key features of postmodernism -- intertextuality and palimpsest – and how they apply to Cunningham’s novel. Intertextuality, says Roland Barthes, recognizes that “[a]ny text is a new tissue of past citations.” A new piece of writing builds on the text of works that have come before. A writer cannot write anything wholly original, and as T.S. Eliot noted in “Tradition and the Individual Talent,” even the original work shifts and changes when a new piece of writing comes into the world. Mrs. Dalloway isn’t quite Mrs. Dalloway anymore, now that The Hours has been written. The notion of palimpsest also applies to The Hours. A palimpsest is “a manuscript on which an earlier text has been effaced and the . . . parchment reused for another [text].” In medieval religious circles, writers would “rub out an earlier piece of writing by . . . washing or scraping the manuscript, in order to prepare it for a new text.” The historical practice of creating palimpsests fascinates postmodernists, who self-consciously write their “new” words on the face of words that have gone before. Michael Cunningham symbolically writes The Hours on the manuscript of Mrs. Dalloway. If you want to dig deeper into what Cunningham was up to in creating this unique homage to a previous novel, check out John Mullan’s pieces in The Guardian: “Imitation” (on Cunningham’s take on Mrs. Dalloway), “Separate Reels” (on the parallel narratives between Woolf’s novel and Cunningham’s novel), and “Who’s Afraid of Rewriting Woolf?” (on intertextuality). And if you’re ready to learn more about Cunningham, read about his reaction to winning the Pulitzer Prize for The Hours or read the transcript of the PBS Online NewsHour interview with him just after the award was announced. Of course, Cunningham’s novel was made into an outstanding film, also titled The Hours. It stars Julianne Moore as Laura Brown, Meryl Streep as Clarissa Vaughn, and Nicole Kidman as Virginia Woolf. Kidman won the Academy Award for Best Actress. To learn more about the film, check out the New York Times’ excellent resource, “Virginia Woolf and The Hours,” which includes a slide show of the film. Be sure to read Matt Wolf's essay on the film, “Clarissa Dalloway in a Hall of Mirrors.” Carol Iannone’s reflective essay, “Woolf, Women, and The Hours,” is also insightful. You might also want to take a look at the BBC’s web project on the film. Finally, you can check out Cunningham’s reflections on the film. If you just can’t get enough of the film, you can learn about screenplay writer David Hare, director Stephen Daldry, and composer Philip Glass. Should we be afraid of Virginia Woolf and the darkness she confronts in her writing, the darkness she confronted in herself? Michael Cunningham doesn’t think so. He says: I can’t imagine wanting to write a novel that wasn’t about darkness in some way. I don’t feel like we need much help with our happiness. The Kodak moments we can manage on our own – I don’t mean to dismiss happiness. We can manage our happiness on our own. I feel like what we need art for is a little bit of solace, a little bit of company in trying to deal with the darker stuff. At the same time, I would never write a pessimistic book. I think writing is, by definition, an optimistic act. Or as Clarissa Vaughn asks herself in The Hours, “Why else do we struggle to go on living, no matter how compromised, no matter how harmed?” Her answer? “[W]e want desperately to live.” Ultimately, Mrs. Dalloway and The Hours are works of great optimism, strength, and courage – despite Septimus Warren Smith’s profound struggle with shell shock, despite Woolf’s ultimate decision to commit suicide, despite Richard’s AIDS and its outcome. Read these novels, watch these films, and see if you, too, aren’t reaffirmed in the celebration of life, its happiness – and its darkness. Visit thestoryweb.com/Cunningham for links to all these resources and to listen to Michael Cunningham read from The Hours. You can also watch the opening sequence from The Hours, which depicts Virginia Woolf’s suicide in 1941.  

New Zealand's most successful home grown film ever reaches the UK: Hunt for The Wilderpeople is a story about identity, intergenerational friendship and loss in the bush Eimear McBride's first published novel won an array of literary prizes. Her follow-up The Lesser Bohemians is told in a similar style - will it attract a similarly delighted critical response? Bedlam: The Asylum and Beyond is a new exhibition at London's Wellcome Collection which looks at how the legacy of Bethlem Hospital has shaped the mental health landscape in this country National Treasure on Channel 4 is a drama that imagines a well-known TV personality coming under suspicion for historical sexual abuse allegations Which actor plays Faustus and which plays Mephistophilis in the RSC's production of Dr Faustus at The Barbican is decided live onstage each night in a unique way. Tom Sutcliffe's guests are Louise Doughty, John Mullan and Catherine O'Flynn. The producer is Oliver Jones.

At a Guardian Live Book Club event, the Norwegian literary phenomenon Karl Ove Knausgaard explains how and why he has put the most intimate details of his life into his autobiographical novels

At a Guardian Live Book Club event, the Norwegian literary phenomenon Karl Ove Knausgaard explains how and why he has put the most intimate details of his life into his autobiographical novels

As Bill Bryson returns to travel writing after 15 years with The Road to Little Dribbling, he joins John Mullan to discuss his voyages around the United Kingdom

As Bill Bryson returns to travel writing after 15 years with The Road to Little Dribbling, he joins John Mullan to discuss his voyages around the United Kingdom

At a Guardian Live event in London, acclaimed Italian novelist Umberto Eco talks to John Mullan about thrillers, storytelling, and the forces that have shaped Italy since the second world war

At a Guardian Live event in London, 2014 Man Booker prize winner Richard Flanagan discusses his novel The Narrow Road to the Deep North with the Guardian’s John Mullan

This special edition of the NS podcast brings you the highlights of our live events from the literature tent at Latitude festival. Featuring Richard Curtis, Kate Mosse, John Mullan, Andrew Marr, Kate Fox, Owen Jones, Suzanne Moore, Georgia Gould, Caroline Crampton, and Tom Gatti. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A brand new interpretation of the classical story The Oresteia begins a Greek Season at London's Almeida Theatre. How well does it bring an ancient story up-to-date? Czech writer Milan Kundera has just published his first novel for 12 years The Festival of Insignificance Iain Banks' 2012 novel Stonemouth about a young man returning - under a shadow - to his Scottish hometown has been dramatised for BBC1 London's Serpentine Gallery has 2 portraiture exhibitions opening - Duane Hanson and Lynette Yiadom Boakye. The film Listen Up Philip follows the life and relationships of an obnoxious young author who seeks life advice from a similarly obnoxious older writer Tom Sutcliffe's guests are Linda Grant, John Mullan and Frances Stonor Saunders. The producer is Oliver Jones.

Christmas, with all its tradition and rituals and emotion, has always provided a rich source of material for writers. In this programme Mariella Frostrup and her guests John Mullan and Jessie Burton explore what it offers twentieth century novelists; from James Joyce and his argumentative Christmas lunch in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man via Patrick Hamilton's bleak 1940's boarding house Christmas Eve in The Slaves of Solitude, to Bridget Jones, in the 1990s, having to return home to her family yet again - still single. And Jonathan Franzen discusses his prize winning book The Corrections which is all about a mother, Enid Lambert, trying to persuade her grown up children to come home for one last Christmas.

The Dirties is a Canadian indie film about a couple of friends planning to make a film about a Columbine-style school massacre, where the bullies will be made to pay for what they've done. It begins to dawn on one of them that his best friend might actually be hatching a bloody murderous revenge. The main character in Nicholson Baker's latest novel "Travelling Sprinkler" is a poet who has fallen out of love with writing poems. Trying to become a songwriter, we see his personal life woven into his lyrics. The work of Dutch artist Piet Mondrian is characterised by geometric compositions using blocks of primary colours. A major new exhibition at Tate Liverpool looks at how his work evolved as he moved from studios in Paris and London to New York. Did you know that Vincent Van Gogh lived and worked in London? His job was at an art dealers in Covent Garden and he lived in Brixton. A new audio walk "At the Crossroads with Vincent" explores turning-points in life through the perspective of Van Gogh's letters to his brother Theo. It's non site-specific and anyone can be take part anywhere in the world. Is it enjoyable? Informative? Enlightening? Hotel is the fourth play from Polly Stenham, whose debut was staged at The Royal Court when she was only 19. It focuses on a dysfunctional family on holiday at a flash hotel in a poor country and has strong echoes of Shakespeare's The Tempest. How important is it to know the source to appreciate this play? Tom Sutcliffe is joined by Gillian Slovo, John Mullan and David Benedict. The producer is Oliver Jones.

Mariella and John Mullan discuss listeners' recommendations for funniest book, Sue Townsend responds to her balloon debate victory, an interview with online publishing sensation Amanda Hocking, and Samantha Harvey talks about her new novel All is Song.

Mariella continues her celebration of funny books and funny writers with award winning comic novelist Christopher Brookmyre discussing why Jeff Torrington's 1992 Whitbread Award winning novel "Swing Hammer Swing" is his choice for Open Book's Funniest Book. In the concluding part of Open Book's Mini History of Comic Writing resident expert John Mullan joins award winning screenwriter Sir Ronald Harwood to discuss the two comic writing giants of the 20th century - P G Wodehouse and Evelyn Waugh. And Gaza through the eyes of a British Palestinian - Selma Dabbagh discusses her debut novel "Out Of It".

Mariella Frostrup continues her celebration of funny books and funny writers with award winning writer A L Kennedy selecting Evelyn Waugh's The Loved One as her favourite funny book. The second installment of Open Book's mini-history of comic writing invites actress Fiona Shaw to join our resident expert John Mullan, Professor of Literature at UCL to explore the impact of Shakespearean and Restoration comedy on the development of the comic novel. And Sarah Hall, award winning writer of four novels, talks about her first collection of short stories The Beautiful Indifference.

Melvyn Bragg and guests John Mullan, Karen O'Brien and Barbara Taylor discuss the life and ideas of the pioneering British Enlightenment thinker Mary Wollstonecraft.Mary Wollstonecraft was born in 1759 into a middle-class family whose status steadily sank as her inept, brutal, drunken father frittered away the family fortune. She did what she could to protect her mother from his aggression; meanwhile, her brother was slated to inherit much of the remaining fortune, while she was to receive nothing.From this unpromising but radicalising start, Wollstonecraft's career took a dizzying trajectory through a bleak period as a governess to becoming a writer, launching a polemical broadside against the political star of the day, witnessing the bloodshed of the French Revolution up close, rescuing her lover's stolen ship in Scandanavia, then marrying one of the leading philosophers of the day, William Godwin, and with him having a daughter who - though she never lived to see her grow up - would go on to write Frankenstein.But most importantly, in 1792, she published her great work, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, which marks her out as one of the great thinkers of the British Enlightenment, with a much stronger, more lasting influence than Godwin. The Vindication was an attempt to apply the Enlightenment logic of rights and reason to the lives of women. Yet it was not a manifesto for the extension of the vote or the reform of divorce law, but a work of political philosophy. And surprisingly, as recent scholarship has highlighted, it was infused with Rational Dissenting Christianity, which Wollstonecraft had absorbed during her time as a struggling teacher and writer in north London.John Mullan is Professor of English at University College, London; Karen O'Brien is Professor of English at the University of Warwick; Barbara Taylor is Professor of Modern History in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of East London.

Melvyn Bragg and guests John Mullan, Karen O'Brien and Barbara Taylor discuss the life and ideas of the pioneering British Enlightenment thinker Mary Wollstonecraft.Mary Wollstonecraft was born in 1759 into a middle-class family whose status steadily sank as her inept, brutal, drunken father frittered away the family fortune. She did what she could to protect her mother from his aggression; meanwhile, her brother was slated to inherit much of the remaining fortune, while she was to receive nothing.From this unpromising but radicalising start, Wollstonecraft's career took a dizzying trajectory through a bleak period as a governess to becoming a writer, launching a polemical broadside against the political star of the day, witnessing the bloodshed of the French Revolution up close, rescuing her lover's stolen ship in Scandanavia, then marrying one of the leading philosophers of the day, William Godwin, and with him having a daughter who - though she never lived to see her grow up - would go on to write Frankenstein.But most importantly, in 1792, she published her great work, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, which marks her out as one of the great thinkers of the British Enlightenment, with a much stronger, more lasting influence than Godwin. The Vindication was an attempt to apply the Enlightenment logic of rights and reason to the lives of women. Yet it was not a manifesto for the extension of the vote or the reform of divorce law, but a work of political philosophy. And surprisingly, as recent scholarship has highlighted, it was infused with Rational Dissenting Christianity, which Wollstonecraft had absorbed during her time as a struggling teacher and writer in north London.John Mullan is Professor of English at University College, London; Karen O'Brien is Professor of English at the University of Warwick; Barbara Taylor is Professor of Modern History in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of East London.

Melvyn Bragg and guests John Mullan, Karen O'Brien and Barbara Taylor discuss the life and ideas of the pioneering British Enlightenment thinker Mary Wollstonecraft.Mary Wollstonecraft was born in 1759 into a middle-class family whose status steadily sank as her inept, brutal, drunken father frittered away the family fortune. She did what she could to protect her mother from his aggression; meanwhile, her brother was slated to inherit much of the remaining fortune, while she was to receive nothing.From this unpromising but radicalising start, Wollstonecraft's career took a dizzying trajectory through a bleak period as a governess to becoming a writer, launching a polemical broadside against the political star of the day, witnessing the bloodshed of the French Revolution up close, rescuing her lover's stolen ship in Scandanavia, then marrying one of the leading philosophers of the day, William Godwin, and with him having a daughter who - though she never lived to see her grow up - would go on to write Frankenstein.But most importantly, in 1792, she published her great work, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, which marks her out as one of the great thinkers of the British Enlightenment, with a much stronger, more lasting influence than Godwin. The Vindication was an attempt to apply the Enlightenment logic of rights and reason to the lives of women. Yet it was not a manifesto for the extension of the vote or the reform of divorce law, but a work of political philosophy. And surprisingly, as recent scholarship has highlighted, it was infused with Rational Dissenting Christianity, which Wollstonecraft had absorbed during her time as a struggling teacher and writer in north London.John Mullan is Professor of English at University College, London; Karen O'Brien is Professor of English at the University of Warwick; Barbara Taylor is Professor of Modern History in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of East London.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the 18th century obsession with taste. In the mid 18th century the social commentator, George Coleman, decried the great fashion of his time: “Taste is at present the darling idol of the polite world…The fine ladies and gentlemen dress with Taste; the architects, whether Gothic or Chinese, build with Taste; the painters paint with Taste; critics read with Taste; and in short, fiddlers, players, singers, dancers, and mechanics themselves, are all the sons and daughters of Taste. Yet in this amazing super-abundancy of Taste, few can say what it really is, or what the word itself signifies.”From the pens of philosophers to the interior decor of the middle classes, the idea of good and bad taste shaped decisions about dress, wallpaper, furniture, architecture, literature and much more. The period saw an explosion in the taste industries - the origins of Chippendale furniture, Wedgwood pottery and Christie's auction house - and a similar growth in magazines and journals devoted to the new aesthetic, moral and social guidelines. But taste was also a battle ground that pitched old money against new, the city against the country and men against women. With Amanda Vickery, Reader in History at Royal Holloway, University of London; John Mullan, Professor of English at University College London; Jeremy Black, Professor of History at the University of Exeter

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the 18th century obsession with taste. In the mid 18th century the social commentator, George Coleman, decried the great fashion of his time: “Taste is at present the darling idol of the polite world…The fine ladies and gentlemen dress with Taste; the architects, whether Gothic or Chinese, build with Taste; the painters paint with Taste; critics read with Taste; and in short, fiddlers, players, singers, dancers, and mechanics themselves, are all the sons and daughters of Taste. Yet in this amazing super-abundancy of Taste, few can say what it really is, or what the word itself signifies.”From the pens of philosophers to the interior decor of the middle classes, the idea of good and bad taste shaped decisions about dress, wallpaper, furniture, architecture, literature and much more. The period saw an explosion in the taste industries - the origins of Chippendale furniture, Wedgwood pottery and Christie's auction house - and a similar growth in magazines and journals devoted to the new aesthetic, moral and social guidelines. But taste was also a battle ground that pitched old money against new, the city against the country and men against women. With Amanda Vickery, Reader in History at Royal Holloway, University of London; John Mullan, Professor of English at University College London; Jeremy Black, Professor of History at the University of Exeter

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the concept of friendship. In Greek and Roman times, friendship was thought of as being an essential constituent of both a good society and a good life; a good society because it lay at the heart of participative civic democracy; a good life because it nurtured wisdom and happiness. It is this period which gives us the texts on friendship which, to this day, are arguably the most important of their kind. Amongst their authors is Aristotle, who engaged in one of the great philosophical discussions on the subject. For Aristotle, friendship could fall into three categories: it could be based on utility, pleasure or goodness. In its latter state, Aristotle described it as being 'a single soul dwelling in two bodies'. So how did the Ancients establish the parameters of the true nature of friendship in the literature and philosophy that followed? How have different forms of friendship helped or hindered creativity and intellectual pursuit? What has been the apparent relationship between friendship and power? And what of the darker aspects of friendship - jealousy, envy and exploitation? With Angie Hobbs, Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Warwick; Mark Vernon, Visiting Lecturer in Philosophy at Syracuse University and London Metropolitan University; John Mullan, Professor of English at University College London.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the concept of friendship. In Greek and Roman times, friendship was thought of as being an essential constituent of both a good society and a good life; a good society because it lay at the heart of participative civic democracy; a good life because it nurtured wisdom and happiness. It is this period which gives us the texts on friendship which, to this day, are arguably the most important of their kind. Amongst their authors is Aristotle, who engaged in one of the great philosophical discussions on the subject. For Aristotle, friendship could fall into three categories: it could be based on utility, pleasure or goodness. In its latter state, Aristotle described it as being 'a single soul dwelling in two bodies'. So how did the Ancients establish the parameters of the true nature of friendship in the literature and philosophy that followed? How have different forms of friendship helped or hindered creativity and intellectual pursuit? What has been the apparent relationship between friendship and power? And what of the darker aspects of friendship - jealousy, envy and exploitation? With Angie Hobbs, Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Warwick; Mark Vernon, Visiting Lecturer in Philosophy at Syracuse University and London Metropolitan University; John Mullan, Professor of English at University College London.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the concept of friendship. In Greek and Roman times, friendship was thought of as being an essential constituent of both a good society and a good life; a good society because it lay at the heart of participative civic democracy; a good life because it nurtured wisdom and happiness. It is this period which gives us the texts on friendship which, to this day, are arguably the most important of their kind. Amongst their authors is Aristotle, who engaged in one of the great philosophical discussions on the subject. For Aristotle, friendship could fall into three categories: it could be based on utility, pleasure or goodness. In its latter state, Aristotle described it as being 'a single soul dwelling in two bodies'. So how did the Ancients establish the parameters of the true nature of friendship in the literature and philosophy that followed? How have different forms of friendship helped or hindered creativity and intellectual pursuit? What has been the apparent relationship between friendship and power? And what of the darker aspects of friendship - jealousy, envy and exploitation? With Angie Hobbs, Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Warwick; Mark Vernon, Visiting Lecturer in Philosophy at Syracuse University and London Metropolitan University; John Mullan, Professor of English at University College London.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the idea of Politeness. A new idea that stalked the land at the start of the eighteenth century in Britain, Politeness soon acquired a philosophy, a literature and even a society devoted to its thrall. It may seem to represent the very opposite now, but at that time, when Queen Anne was on the throne and The Spectator was in the coffee houses, politeness was part of a radical social revolution.How did the idea of politeness challenge the accepted norms of behaviour? How did a notion of how to behave affect the great wealth of eighteenth century culture? With Amanda Vickery, Reader in History at Royal Holloway, University of London; David Wootton, Professor of History at the University of York; John Mullan, Senior Lecturer in English at University College London.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the idea of Politeness. A new idea that stalked the land at the start of the eighteenth century in Britain, Politeness soon acquired a philosophy, a literature and even a society devoted to its thrall. It may seem to represent the very opposite now, but at that time, when Queen Anne was on the throne and The Spectator was in the coffee houses, politeness was part of a radical social revolution.How did the idea of politeness challenge the accepted norms of behaviour? How did a notion of how to behave affect the great wealth of eighteenth century culture? With Amanda Vickery, Reader in History at Royal Holloway, University of London; David Wootton, Professor of History at the University of York; John Mullan, Senior Lecturer in English at University College London.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the idea of Politeness. A new idea that stalked the land at the start of the eighteenth century in Britain, Politeness soon acquired a philosophy, a literature and even a society devoted to its thrall. It may seem to represent the very opposite now, but at that time, when Queen Anne was on the throne and The Spectator was in the coffee houses, politeness was part of a radical social revolution.How did the idea of politeness challenge the accepted norms of behaviour? How did a notion of how to behave affect the great wealth of eighteenth century culture? With Amanda Vickery, Reader in History at Royal Holloway, University of London; David Wootton, Professor of History at the University of York; John Mullan, Senior Lecturer in English at University College London.

Melvyn Bragg examines the 18th century idea of Sensibility. In Laurence Sterne's A Sentimental Journey, the lead character Yorick comforts a young woman who has been abandoned by a little pet goat that had proved as faithless as her lover. Yorick describes her effect upon his ‘sweet sensibility', “I sat down close by her, and Maria let me wipe the tears away as they fell, with my handkerchief. I then steeped it in my own - and then in hers - and then in mine - and then I wiped hers again - and as I did it, I felt such undescribable emotions within me, as I am sure could not be accounted for from any combinations of matter and motion. (I am positive I have a soul; nor can all the books with which materialists have pestered the world ever convince me to the contrary.)”It seems a bit mawkish to us now but Sterne, Richardson and Mackenzie were all part of the ‘cult of sensibility' in the eighteenth century which elevated the sentimental novel to the height of literary art. Jane Austen's masterpiece, Sense and Sensibility, has traditionally been taken as a parody of sensibility. But what caused the rush to emotion that so infused and enthused the Sensibility movement and was Jane Austen really so critical of the expression of feeling?With Claire Tomalin, literary biographer and author of Jane Austen: A Life and The Life and Death of Mary Wollstonecraft; John Mullan, Senior Lecturer in English at University College London; Hermione Lee, Goldsmiths Professor of English Literature, University of Oxford.

Melvyn Bragg examines the 18th century idea of Sensibility. In Laurence Sterne’s A Sentimental Journey, the lead character Yorick comforts a young woman who has been abandoned by a little pet goat that had proved as faithless as her lover. Yorick describes her effect upon his ‘sweet sensibility’, “I sat down close by her, and Maria let me wipe the tears away as they fell, with my handkerchief. I then steeped it in my own - and then in hers - and then in mine - and then I wiped hers again - and as I did it, I felt such undescribable emotions within me, as I am sure could not be accounted for from any combinations of matter and motion. (I am positive I have a soul; nor can all the books with which materialists have pestered the world ever convince me to the contrary.)”It seems a bit mawkish to us now but Sterne, Richardson and Mackenzie were all part of the ‘cult of sensibility’ in the eighteenth century which elevated the sentimental novel to the height of literary art. Jane Austen’s masterpiece, Sense and Sensibility, has traditionally been taken as a parody of sensibility. But what caused the rush to emotion that so infused and enthused the Sensibility movement and was Jane Austen really so critical of the expression of feeling?With Claire Tomalin, literary biographer and author of Jane Austen: A Life and The Life and Death of Mary Wollstonecraft; John Mullan, Senior Lecturer in English at University College London; Hermione Lee, Goldsmiths Professor of English Literature, University of Oxford.