Free Thinking - Paul Nash; George Szirtes; Hungary 1956 and now.
Arts & Ideas
BBC
4.2 • 599 Ratings
🗓️ 19 October 2016
⏱️ 45 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Artist Dave McKean on the way Paul Nash's dreams have inspired a graphic novel.
Ahead of the 60th anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution, Philip speaks to poet George Szirtes, who left the country as a boy in 1956, and writer Tibor Fischer, whose parents came to Britain that same year. They are joined by historians Nora Berend and Simon Hall to discuss the revolt, the history of Islam in Hungary and the political debates going on today.
Paul Nash runs at Tate Britain from 26 October 2016 – 5 March 2017
Dave McKean has created a graphic novel, Black Dog, based on the dreams of Paul Nash which forms part of the 14-18 Now arts programme.
George Szirtes is the co-editor of the Hungarian Anthology The Colonnade of Teeth published by Bloodaxe Books and the title of his own new poetry collection is Mapping the Delta.
Tibor Fischer is the author of numerous works, including the Booker Prize-nominated Under The Frog.
Dr Nora Berend is Reader in European History, University of Cambridge, and author of books including At the Gate of Christendom: Jews, Muslims and "Pagans" in Medieval Hungary c. 1000-c. 1300
Professor Simon Hall, University of Leeds, is the author of 1956: The World in Revolt. He is giving a public lecture on The Hungarian Revolution and the Refugee Experience, 1956-2016, in Leeds on Thursday 24 November.
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. |
| 0:32.0 | Hello and welcome to the arts and ideas download from the free thinking team at the BBC. |
| 0:38.0 | On tonight's program, Going Modern and Being British, not some post-Brexit mantra, |
| 0:45.7 | but the words of the English landscape and war artist Paul Nash, to whom tape Britain |
| 0:50.6 | dedicates an exhibition, opening next week. The graphic novelist Dave McKean has just published Black Dog, |
| 0:57.9 | The Dreams of Paul Nash, and later, with others. |
| 1:01.1 | He talks about Nash, Englishness and modernism. |
| 1:04.6 | But first, somewhere that just over 100 years ago was at the apex of one of the world's great empires. 60 years ago, |
| 1:13.8 | this week in 1956, was the focus of the West's attention as it broke free from Stalinist rule, |
| 1:21.2 | only to be reigned back in, and which now is the pariah of Europe because of its policies on migration, |
| 1:29.1 | an unjustified status, according to one of my guests, the novelist Teebo Fisher, |
| 1:34.1 | the result of Western ignorance and condescension bordering on racism, he argues. |
| 1:39.5 | He's defending President Orban and Hungary. |
| 1:43.5 | But now I want to talk with George Surtees about his new collection of |
| 1:47.7 | poetry, mapping the delta. Surtees left Hungary with his family in 1956 after the uprising |
| 1:54.9 | and has always written in English, but he's made part of his reputation through his translation of |
| 2:00.7 | Hungarian literature, |
| 2:01.9 | the other due to his own poetry which has been garlanded with prizes. |
| 2:06.9 | His new volume moves easily through engagement with writers from Blake and Rambo |
... |
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