Modernist writers
Literary modernism has its origins in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, mainly in Europe and North America. Modernism is characterized by a self-conscious break with traditional styles of poetry and verse.
6 episodes
Episodes in this category also belong to the following categories:
Camus
Melvyn Bragg discusses the Nobel Prize winning Algerian-French writer and existentialist philosopher Albert Camus.
3 January 2008
Featuring: Peter Dunwoodie, David Walker, Christina Howells
CultureNobel laureates in Literature20th-century atheistsExistentialistsPhilosophers of deathAbsurdist writersAnti-Stalinist leftFrench atheists20th-century French dramatists and playwrightsFrench Nobel laureates20th-century French novelistsFrench humanistsLegion of Honour refusalsFrench anarchists, French anti-capitalists, French anti-fascists20th-century French male writersLibertarian socialistsAtheist philosophersFrench male essayists20th-century French philosophersFrench socialistsModernist writersPhilosophers of pessimism20th-century French essayists, 20th-century French short story writersDylan Thomas
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the works and ideas of this celebrated Welsh poet, from his teenage success to his tours of America via Under Milk Wood.
16 June 2022
Featuring: Nerys Williams, John Goodby, Leo Mellor
Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce's groundbreaking 1916 novel about growing up in Catholic Ireland.
26 November 2009
Featuring: Roy Foster, Katherine Mullin, Jeri Johnson
Culture20th-century Irish dramatists and playwrights, 20th-century Irish male writers, 20th-century Irish poetsIrish male novelistsHumor researchersIrish male dramatists and playwrightsIrish male poetsModernismTrope theoristsEyepatch wearersLiterary theoristsMetaphor theoristsDeaths from ulcers20th-century letter writers20th-century Irish novelists, 20th-century Irish short story writers, Irish male short story writersModernist writersIrish expatriates in FranceIrish satiristsIrony theoristsSurrealist writersKafka's The Trial
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Franz Kafka's novel The Trial.
27 November 2014
Featuring: Elizabeth Boa, Steve Connor, Ritchie Robertson
Proust
Melvyn Bragg discusses the life and achievements of the 19th century French novelist Marcel Proust whose 3000 page work À La Recherche du Temps Perdu has been called the definitive modern novel.
17 April 2003
Featuring: Jacqueline Rose, Malcolm Bowie, Robert Fraser
Conversationalists20th-century atheistsFrench philosophers of art19th-century French philosophersLGBTQ Roman Catholics19th-century French LGBTQ people, 20th-century French LGBTQ people19th-century mysticsPhilosophers of literatureFrench Roman Catholic writersFrench atheistsBurials at Père Lachaise Cemetery20th-century French novelistsFormer Roman CatholicsAphoristsDeaths from pneumonia in France, Prix Goncourt winnersFrench male non-fiction writersFrench literary criticsPeople with hypochondriasisFrench essayists19th-century atheists20th-century mystics20th-century French philosophersLycée Condorcet alumniFrench short story writersFrench LGBTQ novelistsWriters from ParisModernist writers20th-century French essayists, 20th-century French short story writersSamuel Beckett
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and work of the author of Waiting for Godot, who lived in Paris and wrote in French as he found that more difficult than writing in English
17 January 2019
Featuring: Steven Connor, Laura Salisbury, Mark Nixon
Culture20th-century Irish dramatists and playwrights, 20th-century Irish male writers, 20th-century Irish poetsNobel laureates in LiteratureExistentialistsPrix Italia winnersAbsurdist writersFormer AnglicansPeople with Parkinson's diseaseIrish male dramatists and playwrightsIrish essayistsBurials at Montparnasse Cemetery20th-century Irish novelists, 20th-century Irish short story writers, Irish male short story writersIrish writers in French, People educated at Portora Royal SchoolFellows of the American Academy of Arts and SciencesAcademics of Trinity College Dublin20th-century essayistsScholars of Trinity College DublinWriters from Dublin (city)Irish Nobel laureates, Irish modernist poetsFrench Resistance membersIrish expatriates in FranceIrish male novelistsAlumni of Trinity College DublinAnti-natalistsModernist writersPhilosophers of pessimism