The Tortoise and the Hare by Elizabeth Jenkins - rerun

Backlisted

Backlisted Podcast

Arts, Books, Leisure, Hobbies

4.7 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 10 January 2023

⏱️ 66 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In memory of the great Carmen Callil, we are replaying the first of her two appearances on Backlisted. Joining Andy and John in this episode is Carmen Callil, the legendary publisher and writer, who is best know for founding the Virago Press in 1972. Once described by the Guardian as ‘part-Lebanese, part-Irish and wholly Australian’, Carmen settled in London in 1964 advertising herself in The Times as ‘Australian, B.A. wants job in book publishing’. After changing a generation’s taste through her publishing at Virago, and in particular the Virago Modern Classics, which continues to bring back into print hundreds of neglected women writers, Carmen went on to run Chatto & Windus and became a global Editor-at-Large for Random House. In 2006 she published Bad Faith: A History of Family & Fatherland, which Hilary Spurling called ‘a work of phenomenally thorough, generous and humane scholarship’. Appointed DBE in 2017, she was also awarded the Benson Medal in the same year, awarded to mark ‘meritorious works in poetry, fiction, history and belles-lettres’. The book under discussion is one of her favourite novels, The Tortoise & the Hare by Elizabeth Jenkins, first published by Gollancz in 1954 and triumphantly reissued by Virago Modern Classics in 1983. Also in this episode we explore the new audio version of one our favourite writer’s best novels - The Unfortunates by B.S. Johnson, famously published in a box containing 27 randomly ordered sections in 1969. And last but very much not least: this episode also features our very first canine guest - Effie, Carmen’s extremely well-behaved border terrier. Timings: (may differ due to variable advert length) 8'10 - The Unfortunates by B.S.Johnson 21'16 - The Tortoise and the Hare by Elizabeth Jenkins * 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, listen without adverts, receive the show early and with extra bonus fortnightly episodes, become a Patreon at www.patreon.com/backlisted Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Spark your creativity with the Sims.
0:04.0	Sometimes you might feel like you're not creative
0:07.0	and you have to go and search of your creative spark again.
0:10.0	Maybe this is catching up with creative friends,
0:13.0	experimenting with a new look or trying out a new recipe
0:16.0	and thanks to the Sims, inspiration is just one game and one spark away.
0:21.0	Ready to spark something? Download the Sims 4 and play for free.
0:30.0	The podcast you're about to hear was recorded in November 2018.
0:35.0	It features the publisher and writer Carmen Carleel
0:38.0	talking about the favorite book she published as a rargo modern classic.
0:41.0	The list she founded in 1978 and which changed the way a whole generation of readers
0:46.0	felt and thought about literature.
0:48.0	The book is The Tortoise and the Hair by Elizabeth Jenkins
0:51.0	and by the end of the podcast you'll know exactly why she chose it.
0:55.0	As I'm sure many of you know, Carmen sadly died last year
0:59.0	and I was lucky enough to go to a funeral which fills St Martin in the fields
1:03.0	to overflowing and manage like all the best funerals
1:06.0	to be both sad and joyous.
1:08.0	Having the choir sing and Abba's Fernando,
1:11.0	one of Carmen's favorite songs probably helped.
1:13.0	The church was full of love and respect
1:16.0	and I hope the podcast you're about to listen to will explain why.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

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

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