Proms Plus: Tragedy

Arts & Ideas

BBC

Society & Culture

4.2 • 598 Ratings

🗓️ 8 August 2019

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

One way that people deal with grief and suffering is to turn to tragic stories for example and catharsis. Rana Mitter discusses tragedy, ancient and modern with the award-winning poet Clare Pollard, author of ‘Ovid’s Heroines’, and the literary historian, Jennifer Wallace, whose new book is ‘Tragedy Since 9 /11’ Producer: Zahid Warley

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
0:21.2	it. It's a long time ago, right? It's like the podcast version of telling your kids the ice cream
0:26.1	van plays music when it's out of ice cream. Listen to evil genius on BBC sounds. Thanks for downloading
0:32.8	the BBC Arts and Ideas podcast. The conversation you're about to hear picks up on themes inspired by the summer's BBC proms concerts.
0:40.6	If you're moved to listen to the music,
0:42.2	you can find every concert broadcast on Radio 3 and BBC Sounds.
0:46.7	Now over to the audience in the Imperial College Theatre
0:49.2	next to the Royal Albert Hall.
0:52.2	BBC Sounds, music, Radio, podcasts.
1:00.0	Hello.
1:05.2	Tonight's prom touches on tragedy in music, although what with the power of Wagner's
1:09.8	Leibus Toad, we sadly don't have time for the version performed by the Bee Gees.
1:14.0	But that 70s classic is a reminder that tragedy can cross cultures and seems to strike a chord, a Tristan chord, even, across the years and national boundaries.
1:23.9	Yet technically, it emerges from a very specific time and place, classical Athens.
1:29.2	So let's explore tragedy, past and present. And to do that, it's not a tragedy, but a great joy
1:34.3	to have with me the poet Claire Pollard and the literary historian Jennifer Wallace. And Claire is
1:39.9	the author of Ovid's heroines, a new version of his work, Heroides, and Jennifer's book on
1:45.2	Tragedy After 9-11 is coming out this autumn. And Jennifer, can I start with you? Are there elements
1:51.9	that define a tragedy across cultures, making it more than just sadness or horror?
1:59.2	Well, I think that every culture wants to try and explain to itself suffering or
2:05.4	terrible events that have happened. Even today, when a terrible event happens, immediately you
2:10.7	want to know the causes, the consequences, the fate of the different people. You want to know
	...

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