Breakdown: Horatio Clare, Stevie Smith

Arts & Ideas

BBC

Society & Culture

4.2 • 598 Ratings

🗓️ 3 March 2021

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Paranoia, the collateral damage on his family and the investigations he makes into drugs used to treat such a breakdown: Horatio Clare talks to Laurence Scott about his Journey through Madness, Mania and Healing. Plus the poetry of Stevie Smith (20 September 1902 – 7 March 1971). Author of the much quoted lines Not Waving but Drowning; Stevie Smith suffered from depression and acute shyness. New Generation Thinker Noreen Masud looks at her writing.

Horatio Clare has recorded a series of different walks for BBC Radio 3. His books include The Light in the Dark: A Winter Journal; A Single Swallow; Down the Sea in Ships and his new memoir Heavy Light. Dr Noreen Masud teaches on twentieth century fiction at Durham University. You can hear her talking about nonsense writing in this episode of Free Thinking about Dada https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000k9ws and in this Sunday Feature she looks at aphorisms https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000rtxb

Producer: Torquil MacLeod

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome back to the home of the oxymoron. Evil genius. He asked the newspaper to print his obituary early so he'd enjoy it. That's like hiding at your own funeral. Yeah, a big, great gig. I'm Russell Kane. Join me to weigh in on whether the biggest players in history are more evil or genius. Becoming that rich, I'd say that is some level of genius. It also helps that it's a long time ago, right?
0:23.3	It's like the podcast version of telling your kids the ice cream van plays music when it's
0:27.5	out of ice cream.
0:28.8	Listen to evil genius on BBC Sounds.
0:33.3	BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.
0:37.0	Thanks for downloading this Arts and Ideas podcast.
0:40.0	I'm Lawrence Scott.
0:41.5	Join me for a frank and inspiring conversation about mental health with the writer Horatio-Clair
0:46.6	and a tour of the utterly weird poetry of Stevie Smith.
0:51.0	Coming up right after this.
0:53.8	With the BBC Sounds app, you can find some of your favorite shows with ease.
0:59.3	For example, you can tap the search button at the bottom right and type in Classical Fix.
1:04.4	This will take you straight to the podcast where we aim to open up the incredible world of classical music to everyone.
1:11.3	Featuring some famous faces, including the comedian James Acaster.
1:15.2	Listen to it, it feels like all the grimes coming off you.
1:18.4	The musician, Nadine Shah.
1:20.0	Right now I'm on some adventure.
1:22.3	And many more.
1:23.7	Download the BBC Sounds app to start listening to Classical Fix and many other podcasts.
1:29.4	Hello, on today's program, we're thinking about the unstable borders between poetry and madness,
1:36.3	the consolations and curses of the human drive to tell stories,
1:41.0	and the ways we try to bring order and meaning to the world around us.
	...

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