
Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters
The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments.
4 episodes
Episodes in this category also belong to the following categories:
Auden
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss WH Auden's life and poetry from Europe before WWII, reflecting on his travels to Spain, China and Germany and the rise of totalitarianism.
19 December 2019
Featuring: Mark Ford, Janet Montefiore, Jeremy Noel-Tod
CultureAmerican literary critics, American male dramatists and playwrightsEnglish male dramatists and playwrights20th-century English male writersAmerican male essayists, American male poets20th-century American male writersAmerican male non-fiction writersEnglish LGBTQ poetsGay academics20th-century English poets20th-century English non-fiction writersGay dramatists and playwrights, Gay poetsMembers of the American Academy of Arts and LettersEnglish emigrants to the United StatesAnglican poetsAmerican lecturersModernist theatre20th-century American essayistsEnglish male poetsAmerican LGBTQ poetsEnglish literary criticsAlumni of Christ Church, OxfordNaturalized citizens of the United StatesEnglish essayistsFormalist poetsLGBTQ AnglicansOxford Professors of PoetryEnglish male non-fiction writersBritish male essayistsEdith Wharton
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Wharton's novels, which explore the world of the privileged in America's Gilded Age, in which she lived, written in hindsight and with little mercy.
4 October 2018
Featuring: Hermione Lee, Bridget Bennett, Laura Rattray
Culture19th-century American poetsMembers of the American Academy of Arts and LettersGerman–English translators19th-century American short story writers, Ghost story writers20th-century American women writersAmerican autobiographers19th-century American women writers, American women poets19th-century American novelists, Novelists from New York (state)Knights of the Legion of HonourHannah Arendt
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ideas of Hannah Arendt who examined totalitarianism and politics and, when covering the Eichmann trial, explored 'the banality of evil'.
2 February 2017
Featuring: Lyndsey Stonebridge, Frisbee Sheffield, Robert Eaglestone
PhilosophyPrinceton University facultyGerman political philosophersExistentialists20th-century American women writersIntellectual historians, University of Chicago facultyUniversity of Marburg alumniJewish existentialistsWomen religious writersPhilosophers of lawMembers of the American Academy of Arts and LettersSocial philosophersPhilosophy writersPhilosophers of technologyAmerican political philosophers20th-century German women writersGerman women philosophersFellows of the American Academy of Arts and SciencesPhilosophers of cultureThe New School faculty20th-century American essayistsExilliteratur writersJewish agnosticsGerman agnosticsGerman Ashkenazi JewsAmerican Ashkenazi Jews, American Zionists, American agnostics, German Zionists20th-century German philosophers20th-century American philosophers20th-century German non-fiction writersGerman ethicists, German philosophers of educationHeidelberg University alumniPolitical philosophersJewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United StatesPhilosophers of scienceScholars of antisemitismPhilosophers of historyAmerican philosophers of educationWilliam James's The Varieties of Religious Experience
Melvyn Bragg and guests Jonathan Ree, John Haldane and Gwen Griffith-Dickson discuss The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James.
13 May 2010
Featuring: Jonathan Rée, John Haldane, Gwen Griffith-Dickson
Philosophy19th-century American writersAnalytic philosophersMembers of the American Academy of Arts and Letters19th-century American philosophersCorresponding fellows of the British AcademyAmerican philosophers of religionAmerican philosophers of mind, American philosophers of sciencePsychologists of religionExistentialistsPhilosophers of deathPhilosophers of warPhilosophers of historyWilliam JamesOntologists20th-century American philosophers