Category Archives: Podcasts

Literary Readings: ‘The Illiad’ (London Review)

London Review of Books (LRB) – December 9, 2022: Among the Ancients, with Emily Wilson and Thomas Jones, which we’ll be re-running from January next year. With a new episode each month, Among the Ancients will consider some of the greatest works of Ancient Greek and Roman literature, from Homer to Horace. In this sample Emily and Tom discuss the Iliad.

Among the Ancients: The ‘Iliad’

A sample from the first episode of the Close Readings series from Emily Wilson and Thomas Jones.

Dating to the ninth century B.C., Homer’s timeless poem still vividly conveys the horror and heroism of men and gods wrestling with towering emotions and battling amidst devastation and destruction, as it moves inexorably to the wrenching, tragic conclusion of the Trojan War. Renowned classicist Bernard Knox observes in his superb introduction that although the violence of the Iliad is grim and relentless, it coexists with both images of civilized life and a poignant yearning for peace.

News: Griner Released In Swap, Finland And Sweden NATO Talks, Iowa Caucus

December 9, 2022 We ask if Russia is opening up to diplomatic negotiation. Plus, the Finnish defence minister’s visit to Turkey, a case for Iowa remaining first in the US primaries and the world reacts to Britain’s new coalmine.

News: Ukraine Drones Hit Russia, President Of Peru Jailed, Trump Fraud Case

Russia appears to retaliate for a third attack on their airfields. Plus: the Finnish defence minister visits Turkey, the latest art news and we head to Senegal where Chanel has held its first fashion show in Africa.

News: China’s Foreign Police Stations, South Africa Impeachment

We discuss reports of China operating more than 100 police stations abroad, plus: South Africa’s parliament votes on impeaching President Cyril Ramaphosa, Indonesia bans sex outside of marriage and what will Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s presidency mean for indigenous tribes in the Amazon?

News: New Russian Strikes, Iran’s ‘Morality Police’ & Georgia Senate Run-Off

Russia launches a fresh barrage of missiles towards Ukraine. Plus: Iran disbands its “morality police”, Georgia’s Senate run-off, the latest business news and Unherd launches its first print edition.

News: China Ups Online Censorship, New $60 Cap On Russian Oil, U.N.-Taliban

December 5, 2022: China boosts online censorship and surveillance following zero-covid policy protests. G-7 sets $60 crude oil cap on Russian oil. United Nations representatives meet with the Taliban.

Opinion: Xi Jinping Zero-Covid Policy, Activision Blizzard, UK Emigration

A selection of three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. This week, Xi Jinping’s zero-covid policy, why trustbusters should let Microsoft buy Activision Blizzard (11:44) and why emigration is in the air for Britons (16:38).

Shakespeare & Company: ‘The Hunchback Of Notre Dame’ Special 2022 Edition

@Shakespeare_Co Podcast, December 2, 2022: The Hunchback of Notre-Dame Special Podcast! To celebrate our exclusive S&Co edition of The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, Adam is joined by Krista Halverson, S&Co Publishing Director, and artist @neiljgower to discuss this classic of French literature.

Image

Penguin Classics UK

Reviews: ‘The Week In Art’

As Art Basel returns to Florida for the 20th anniversary of its Miami Beach art fair, Aimee Dawson, the acting digital editor at The Art Newspaper, talks to Anny Shaw, the acting art market editor, about the sales, news and talking points at the event that has become most synonymous with art-world excess.

December 2, 2022: Meanwhile, after Arts Council England announced its funding allocation in November, arts organisations across the country, and especially in London, are reeling. Ben Luke talks to Jenni Lomax, the former director of the Camden Art Centre—the north London non-profit gallery whose funding has been cut by more than 30%. They discuss the effect of the cuts, and why the response from the visual arts community is relatively quiet compared to the uproar in the worlds of theatre and opera.

And this episode’s Work of the Week is Oleksandr Bohomazov’s Sharpening the Saws (1927), a work from the National Art Museum of Ukraine in Kyiv. The painting is among a host of works moved from the war-torn country to the Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum in Madrid for the exhibition In the Eye of the Storm: Modernism in Ukraine, 1900-1930s. Katia Denysova, the co-curator of the show, tells us about the picture, and the extraordinary journey it took from Kyiv to the Spanish capital.Art Basel in Miami Beach until 3 December.In the Eye of the Storm: Modernism in Ukraine, 1900-1930s, Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum, Madrid, until 30 April 2023.