The Eye Of the Beholder by Marc Behm

Backlisted

Backlisted Podcast

Arts, Books, Leisure, Hobbies

4.7 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 15 September 2025

⏱️ 67 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Emmy Award-winning writer David Quantick (Veep, The Thick of It) joins Andy and Una for a discussion of Marc Behm's surreal thriller The Eye of the Beholder (1980). David last appeared on Backlisted almost ten years ago, waaay back on episode 5. On that occasion he brought with him Christie Malry's Own Double-Entry by B.S. Johnson. It is no exaggeration to say The Eye of the Beholder gives that novel a run for its money in terms of sheer audacity, originality and mystery. Marc Behm himself was hardly less enigmatic. He won an Oscar for his screenplay for Stanley Donen's film Charade, starring Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn; in 1965 he co-wrote the Beatles' second feature film Help! As a novelist, he was hugely popular in France, while remaining virtually unknown in America and the UK. We take a close look at The Eye of the Beholder and the long view of his remarkable and unique career. On Mon 27th Oct 2025, Backlisted is recording a show at 92NY in New York, on William Maxwell at the New Yorker. Tickets are available now from ⁠⁠https://www.92ny.org⁠⁠. On Wed 29th Oct 2025, we will be at the Bitter End in Greenwich Village, NYC, recording a special episode on books by Bob Dylan, including Tarantula and Chronicles Vol. 1. Tickets are available now from ⁠⁠https://bitterend.com⁠⁠. * To purchase any of the books mentioned in this episode please visit our bookshop at ⁠⁠uk.bookshop.org/shop/backlisted⁠⁠ where all profits help to sustain this podcast and UK independent bookshops. * For information about everything mentioned in this episode visit ⁠⁠www.backlisted.fm⁠⁠ *If you'd like to support the show and join in with the book chat, listen without adverts, receive the show early and with extra bonus fortnightly episodes and exclusive writing, become a Patreon at ⁠⁠www.patreon.com/backlisted⁠⁠ *You can sign up to our free monthly newsletter ⁠⁠here⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to Backlisted, the podcast which gives new life to old books.
0:15.7	The book featured on today's show is The Eye of the Beholder by Mark Ben.
0:24.8	Thank you. Today's show is The Eye of the Beholder by Mark Bem. A thriller first published in 1980 by Dial Press in the USA and then in 1983 by Zomba press
0:33.3	in the UK. I'm Andy Miller, author of The Year of Reading Dangerously, and Inventry, an
0:40.5	unreliable guide to my record collection. And I'm Dr. Una McCormack, award-winning author of
0:46.2	speculative fictions and Associate Fellow of Homerton College, Cambridge.
0:51.6	Now, before we go any further, let me remind you that to celebrate 10 years of us giving
0:56.5	new life to old books, Backlisted is coming to New York.
1:01.0	Yes, for the first time ever, we will be recording two episodes in the States at the end of
1:06.4	October.
1:07.6	So on Monday, the 27th of October at 7.30 p.m. Backlisted will be appearing at the
1:14.6	92nd Street Y, or 9-2N-Y, in Manhattan. And the subject of the show will be the much-loved
1:21.7	editor and writer William Maxwell. We'll be celebrating Maxwell's work via his own novels and short stories,
1:29.1	plus that of the writers he championed at the New Yorker magazine,
1:32.8	John Cheever, J.D. Salinger, Elizabeth Taylor, Sylvia Townsend Warner,
1:37.1	with the help of two expert guests,
1:39.5	Deborah Treasman, fiction editor of the New Yorker,
1:42.7	and our friend, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Jennifer Egan.
1:46.3	And in addition to 2025, marking the 10th anniversary of Backlisted, it's the 100th birthday of the New Yorker.
1:54.6	So it's all very exciting. If you're in New York or can get there on Monday, the 27th of October,
2:01.3	Backlisted would love to see you. Tickets are on sale now at New York or can get there on Monday the 27th of October, backlisted would love to see you.
2:02.9	Tickets are on sale now at 929.org and you'll find that link in the show notes.
	...

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