A Deep-Dive Into The Epidemic of Anxiety, with Author Olivia Sudjic
The High Low
The High Low
4.8 • 9.6K Ratings
🗓️ 7 November 2018
⏱️ 85 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
From Prince George memes (@garyjanetti) to vegan abuse (last week journalist William Sitwell was sacked from the Waitrose Food magazine, for his jokes about killing vegans) via the healthiest/ unhealthiest high streets in the UK, as voted by The Royal Society of Public Health. Edinburgh won, Grimsby lost, and you’ll have to listen to the podcast to find out why.
Today we have author Olivia Sudjic on the show to discuss her new essay, Exposure, about the anxiety that threatened to engulf her after her debut novel, Sympathy, became a literary success. Part literary criticism, drawing on some of her favourite works by female authors, Sudjic’s intelligent, sharp, thoughtful and deeply confronting essay discusses not just anxiety but all of its merry cohorts: insomnia, self-surveillance, self-loathing, sabotage, imposter syndrome and the gender imbalance when it comes to critiquing women’s fiction (as Roxane Gay points out, Knausgård is never called a ‘diarist‘.) Sudjic discusses what it means to be a published author, divorcing yourself from your art and why anxiety, when correctly managed, can be a positive force: a galvanizing ‘self-awareness’ which keeps you writing.
According to The World Health Organisation (2017) over 260 million people worldwide suffer from an anxiety disorder; it affects almost twice as many women as men. Oft considered a modern epidemic, the subject is something we’ve long deliberated about covering on The High Low, but have never had the nerve. We hope the conversation proves as valuable to others, as much as it did us.
Please do note that nothing discussed in today’s episode constitutes advice from a healthcare professional. If you think you might be suffering from anxiety, or an anxiety disorder, please do contact your local GP, or visit mind.org.uk and anxietyuk.org.uk to get the help and support you need.
The Little Drummer Girl https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bqs366
Informer https://www.bbc.co.uk/search?q=informer
There She Goes (all BBC iPlayer) https://www.bbc.co.uk/search?q=there+she+goes&sa_f=search-product&scope=
The Good Place on Netflix https://www.netflix.com/title/80113701
A Love Story for Bewildered Girls, by Emma Morgan (February 2019, pre-order now) https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/309/309817/a-love-story-for-bewildered-girls/9780241357767.html
Zoe Williams on William Sitwell's resignation: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/oct/31/waitrose-editor-quits-vegan
You're Booked with Daisy Buchanan: https://www.acast.com/booked
Sheridan Smith interviewed for The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2018/nov/03/sheridan-smith-fell-apart-lost-my-mind-tom-lamont
Morwenna Ferrier on the fashion in Killing Eve:
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to episode 76 of The High Low, the weekly current affairs and pop culture podcast |
| 0:21.0 | hosted by Cremont, Alderton and Pandora Sykes. |
| 0:25.3 | That is a bit of a nasty joke actually about the fact that I have been gifted some Cremont. |
| 0:30.9 | What is Cremont? |
| 0:31.9 | I talk so much about it. |
| 0:33.1 | Well now that you ask, if any brands are listening, yes I would like, as many cases as you can |
| 0:37.3 | spare. |
| 0:38.3 | It is like Prosecco for 30 somethings. |
| 0:41.1 | Is it like more full-bodied? |
| 0:43.3 | It's more kind of biscuitly and dry like champagne. |
| 0:46.3 | So why not just have champagne? |
| 0:48.3 | Because it's cheaper than champagne and it's not. |
| 0:50.5 | Champagne can only be made in champagne region with champagne grapes. |
| 0:54.1 | Yes, yes, otherwise it's like a sparkling wine. |
| 0:56.5 | So that's the sparkling wine in France that's produced is called Cremont and it's not. |
| 1:01.1 | I just cannot abide Prosecco anymore. |
| 1:03.5 | Well there you go, listener, she cannot abide Prosecco. |
| 1:05.5 | Cremont or... |
| 1:06.5 | But she likes Cremont. |
| 1:07.5 | Did you do anything for Halloween Cremont? |
| 1:10.5 | I was asleep by 930 which was the biggest treat, not trick of all. |
| 1:15.5 | I think I am the only woman in the world slash Instagram who did not dress up as a hand-made. |
... |
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