Enchantment, Witches and Woodlands

Arts & Ideas

BBC

Society & Culture

4.2 • 599 Ratings

🗓️ 18 October 2018

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Matthew Sweet takes to the woods with thoroughly modern witch, William Hunter, and writer and folklorist, Zoe Gilbert, to look for green men and suitable spots for a ritual. If modern magic is all about re-enchanting the world then old magic was more about fear and keeping witches out but as a new exhibition opens in Oxford, Dafydd Daniel and Lisa Mullen discuss whether magical thinking is an inevitable part of being human while in Marie Darrieussecq's new novel set in a not very far away and dystopian future, the forest is the last haven for fugitives.

Our Life in the Forest by Marie Darrieussecq also looks at clones and trafficking. Her first novel, Pig Tales, was translated into thirty-five languages. As Radio 3 explores the idea of forests of the imagination she joins presenter Matthew Sweet along with New Generation Thinkers Dr Dafydd Daniel, who teaches at Jesus College, University of Oxford and Dr Lisa Mullen, who is the Steven Isenberg Junior Research Fellow, Worcester College. Zoe Gilbert's novel Folk is out now.

Spellbound: Magic, Ritual & Witchcraft runs at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford until 6 January 2019. A playlist of Radio 3's Into the Forest programmes is here https://bbc.in/2RUE1La

Producer: Jacqueline Smith.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

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 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	So, you've succumbed.
0:39.0	You heard the Arts and Ideas podcast calling to you,
0:42.5	like that pie in the fridge.
0:44.4	Well, my name's Matthew Sweet,
0:46.1	and I'm here to tell you that really there's no need to feel guilty.
0:50.1	Give in to your desires.
0:51.7	We all need ideas, we all need the arts. And you're going to get them
0:55.9	right here, right now, after this short message. Did you know that Mozart was so infuriating
1:02.3	he was called a clown and a knave and given a kick-up the behind by the Archbishop of Salzburg
1:07.7	steward? Or that Chikovsky's family censored his diaries to hide the fact he was gay.
1:13.6	Ever hear of J.S. Bach, the street brawler?
1:17.4	The Composer of the Week podcast introduces you to the human side of the men and women who created our greatest classical music.
1:24.5	Subscribe to Composer of the Week with me, Donald Peklode,
1:27.9	wherever you get your podcasts.
1:29.7	There's a treasure trove of music and stories
1:31.9	waiting for you to explore, and a new composer to discover
1:34.9	well, every week.
1:37.5	Thanks. Radio 3 is going into the forest,
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.