The Essay Podcast
Leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond, themed across a week - insight, opinion and intellectual surprise.
Episodes to download
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Three Lives—Life in Fragments: Stories from the Cairo Genizah
Thu 30 May 2013
4/5 Daniel Davies describes the private papers of three very different medieval Egyptians.
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Women—Life in Fragments: Stories from the Cairo Genizah
Wed 29 May 2013
3/5 Melonie Schmierer-Lee discovers the varying fortunes of women in medieval Cairo.
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Letters—Life in Fragments: Stories from the Cairo Genizah
Tue 28 May 2013
2/5 Ben Outhwaite reveals an intercultural trade network across the medieval Mediterrean.
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The Discovery—Life in Fragments: Stories from the Cairo Genizah
Mon 27 May 2013
1/5 Esther-Miriam Wagner on discovering the Genizah, medieval manuscripts in a Cairo synagogue
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Wagner and Adorno—Wagner's Philosophers
Fri 24 May 2013
5/5 Professor John Deathridge explores the posthumous reputation of Wagner in the 20th century
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Wagner and Nietzsche—Wagner's Philosophers
Thu 23 May 2013
4/5 Michael Tanner explores the relationship between Wagner and Friedrich Nietzsche.
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Wagner and Schopenhauer—Wagner's Philosophers
Wed 22 May 2013
3/5 Christopher Janaway explores Wagner's encounter with the philosophy of Schopenhauer.
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Wagner and the Philosophy of Revolution—Wagner's Philosophers
Tue 21 May 2013
2/5 AC Grayling focuses on the crucial years before and after the Dresden uprising of 1849.
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Wagner and German Idealism—Wagner's Philosophers
Mon 20 May 2013
1/5 Roger Scruton explores the philosophical background that influenced the young Wagner.
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Greece—Living Abroad
Fri 17 May 2013
5/5 Writer Frederic Raphael recalls living in Greece in the early 1960s.
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Italy—Living Abroad
Thu 16 May 2013
4/5 Writer Frederic Raphael recalls living in early 1960s Italy.
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Spain—Living Abroad
Wed 15 May 2013
3/5 Writer Frederic Raphael recalls living in Franco's Spain during the late 1950s.
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France—Living Abroad
Tue 14 May 2013
2/5 Frederic Raphael recalls his life as a young writer in the post-war Paris of Sartre.
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England—Living Abroad
Mon 13 May 2013
1/5 Writer Frederic Raphael recalls living in wartime Britain as a boy.
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Holguin—Unknown Cities
Fri 26 Apr 2013
5/5 Travel editor Simon Calder recalls the small-scale delights of Holguin in Cuba.
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Asmara—Unknown Cities
Thu 25 Apr 2013
4/5 Michela Wrong on the Italianate buildings and futurist constructions in Asmara, Eritrea.
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Makhachkala—Unknown Cities
Wed 24 Apr 2013
3/5 Vanora Bennett on Makhachkala in Russia, which she describes as 'beyond the mountains'.
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Kunming—Unknown Cities
Tue 23 Apr 2013
2/5 Romesh Gunesekera on Kunming, considered to be unlike any other modern Chinese city.
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Hobart—Unknown Cities
Mon 22 Apr 2013
1/5 Nicholas Shakespeare on Hobart's convict and whaling past, and the story of a monkey.
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Cubism—Paris 1913
Fri 11 Jan 2013
5/5 Adam Gopnik discusses Cubism in 1913 Paris, considering it as a form of poetic realism.
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Le Grand Meaulnes—Paris 1913
Thu 10 Jan 2013
4/5 Writer Michele Roberts assesses the impact of Alain-Fournier's Le Grand Meaulnes.
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Alcools—Paris 1913
Wed 9 Jan 2013
3/5 Martin Sorrell explores on Apollinaire's ground-breaking volume of poetry, Alcools.
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Swann's Way—Paris 1913
Mon 7 Jan 2013
1/5 Why Marcel Proust's Swann's Way was among highlights of a great year for Parisian culture.
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Kirsteen McCue—Napoleon and Me
Thu 6 Dec 2012
4/5 Kirsteen McCue discusses singing and interpreting James Hogg's Scottish Napoleonic songs.
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Adam Nicolson—Napoleon and Me
Wed 5 Dec 2012
3/5 Writer Adam Nicolson recalls being a teenager as father wrote about Napoleon and 1812.
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Andrea Stuart—Napoleon and Me
Tue 4 Dec 2012
2/5 Writer Andrea Stuart celebrates Napoleon's first wife, Josephine de Beauharnais.
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Julia Blackburn—Napoleon and Me
Mon 3 Dec 2012
1/5 Julia Blackburn looks for the ghost of Napoleon on St Helena, where he died in exile.
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Mike Figgis—On Directing
Fri 17 Feb 2012
5/5 Film director Mike Figgis reflects on the hard lessons he learned in Hollywood.
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Josie Rourke—On Directing
Thu 16 Feb 2012
4/5 Josie Rourke looks at what happens when things go wrong in the production of a play.
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Bartlett Sher—On Directing
Wed 15 Feb 2012
3/5 Bartlett Sher examines the importance of rhythm when creating theatre.
Death in Trieste
Watch: My Deaf World
The Book that Changed Me
Five figures from the arts and science introduce books that changed their lives and work.