John Mullan
Professor of English at University College London
14 episodes
Appears in multiple episodes with: Judith Hawley, Judith Hawley, Amanda Vickery, Jim McLaverty
Covers topics in categories such as:
Emma
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Jane Austen's novel Emma, which features, according to Austen, 'a heroine whom no-one but myself will much like'.
19 November 2015
Also featuring: Janet Todd, Emma Clery
Fanny Burney
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the life and work of the 18th-century writer Fanny Burney, also known as Frances D'Arblay and Frances Burney, best known for her novel Evelina.
23 April 2015
Also featuring: Nicole Pohl, Judith Hawley
CultureEnglish essayists19th-century English novelistsEnglish women poetsEnglish women novelistsEnglish satiristsConversationalists19th-century English women writersWriters from London19th-century English dramatists and playwrightsEnglish pamphleteersBritish women essayists18th-century English novelistsStreathamites18th-century English diarists18th-century English women writersEnglish women dramatists and playwrightsWriters from King's LynnTristram Shandy
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Laurence Sterne's comic novel Tristram Shandy.
24 April 2014
Also featuring: Judith Hawley, Mary Newbould
CultureNovels adapted into operasNovels adapted into comicsNovels adapted into radio programsPicaresque novels18th-century British novelsMetafictional novelsNonlinear narrative novelsBritish satirical novels1759 novelsSelf-reflexive novelsIrish novels adapted into plays, Irish novels adapted into filmsMary Wollstonecraft
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.
31 December 2009
Also featuring: Karen O'Brien, Barbara Taylor
PhilosophyEnlightenment philosophersEnglish essayistsEnglish travel writersWriters of Gothic fictionEnglish women novelistsBritish philosophers of educationScholars of feminist philosophyHistorians of the French RevolutionEnglish philosophersEnglish republicansEnglish women philosophersEnglish UnitariansFounders of English schools and collegesGerman–English translators18th-century British philosophersEnglish educational theoristsBritish women essayists18th-century English novelists18th-century British essayistsBurials at St Pancras Old Church18th-century English historiansDeaths in childbirthFrench–English translatorsFeminist theoristsPeople from Somers Town, LondonGodwin familyEnglish feminists, English feminist writersSwift's A Modest Proposal
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Jonathan Swift's satirical 1729 pamphlet A Modest Proposal, which reveals much about attitudes to the Irish and the poor in 18th-Century Britain.
29 January 2009
Also featuring: Judith Hawley, Ian McBride
CultureEnglish male poetsEnglish AnglicansEnglish male novelistsEnglish male short story writersEnglish satiristsAlumni of Trinity College DublinIrish male poetsEnglish short story writersAnglican writersEnglish fantasy writersNeoclassical writersEnglish pamphleteers18th-century pseudonymous writers18th-century English novelists17th-century Anglo-Irish peopleEnglish political writersAlumni of Hart Hall, OxfordPeople educated at Kilkenny CollegeIrish satiristsJonathan SwiftAnglo-Irish artists, Irish fantasy writers18th-century Anglo-Irish people, 18th-century Irish writers, 18th-century Irish male writersTaste
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the 18th century obsession with good and bad taste
25 October 2007
Also featuring: Amanda Vickery, Jeremy Black
Epistolary Literature
Melvyn Bragg discusses the 18th Century fashion for epistolary literature including Aphra Benn, Samuel Richardson and Jane Austen.
15 March 2007
Also featuring: Karen O'Brien, Brean Hammond
Pope
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the satirist Alexander Pope. One of the greatest poets of the English language, his brilliant satires have made him popular in our age but not in his own.
9 November 2006
Also featuring: Jim McLaverty, Valerie Rumbold
CultureEnglish male poetsEnglish essayistsEnglish male non-fiction writersBritish male essayistsPeople from the City of London18th-century English male writersEnglish Catholic poetsNeoclassical writersRoman Catholic writers18th-century English non-fiction writersTranslators of HomerEnglish Roman Catholics18th-century British essayistsFreemasons of the Premier Grand Lodge of EnglandTory poetsTuberculosis deaths in England18th-century English poetsFriendship
Melvyn Bragg discusses the concept of friendship, considered in antiquity as being an essential constituent of both a good society and a good life.
2 March 2006
Also featuring: Angie Hobbs, Mark Vernon
Johnson
Melvyn Bragg discusses Samuel Johnson, a giant of 18th century literature, language and letters, and perhaps the most quotable Englishman to have ever lifted a pen.
27 October 2005
Also featuring: Jim McLaverty, Judith Hawley
CultureAnglican saintsEnglish essayistsBurials at Westminster AbbeyEnglish AnglicansEnglish travel writers18th-century English male writersConversationalistsMale essayists18th-century English writersEnglish literary criticsStreathamitesEnglish biographersEnglish sermon writersPeople with mood disorders18th-century English poets18th-century lexicographers, 18th-century writers in LatinThe Scriblerus Club
Melvyn Bragg discusses the Scriblerus Club which included some of the sharpest satirists of the 18th century.
9 June 2005
Also featuring: Judith Hawley, Marcus Walsh
Politeness
Melvyn Bragg discusses politeness, the revolution in manners that transformed the social scene in eighteenth century Britain.
30 September 2004
Also featuring: Amanda Vickery, David Wootton
Sensation
Melvyn Bragg discusses the novels of sensation, a literary phenomenon which swept through the Victorian era.
6 November 2003
Also featuring: Lyn Pykett, Dinah Birch
Sensibility
Melvyn Bragg discusses the philosophy of the 18th century literary cult of sensibility, how it merged into romanticism and why it was so often connected with illness, melancholia and nerves.
3 January 2002
Also featuring: Claire Tomalin, Hermione Lee