13 June 2005
Monday 13 June 2005 21:30-22:15 (Radio 3)
Are spy novels radical insights into the real politics hidden from ordinary people? Or are they just conspiracy theories given the stamp of fiction? Isabel Hilton talks to, amongst others, the novelist Henry Porter to unmask the real culture of espionage writing. And the first in our Pictures of Britain series, the novelist Beryl Bainbridge casts her writerly eye over a piece of Britain that has shaped her imagination.
Programme Details
Why does the spy have such cachet? On screen and in literature, this dark and mysterious figure who operates outside the norms of society has proved a powerful and lucrative subject for over a century. On film alone we've had The Day of the Jackal, The Lady Vanishes, the James Bond series of films, Mission: Impossible, and Matt Damon as Jason Bourne in The Bourne Identity. And more often than not these figures originally come from literature. On Night Waves, Isabel Hilton is joined live by two writers - Henry Porter, who has just published a new spy novel Brandenburg, and Allan Hepburn, whose new non-fiction book Intrigue: Espionage and Culture attempts to understand the appeal of the furtive international stealth operator.
Also in the programme, as part of the BBC's Picture of Britain series on television and radio, Night Waves has invited a number of leading writers across Great Britain and Northern Ireland to describe how a particular part of the country has influenced their writing. Over the next two weeks we'll be hearing contributions from writers including David Lodge and Louis de Bernières, but this evening we hear from Beryl Bainbridge on the influence of the city of Liverpool, and how and why her experience of the city's history lies at the heart of so much of her fiction.
This weekend saw the 2005 Venice Biennale - the world's greatest showcase for international modern art - open its doors to the public. The Times art critic Rachel Campbell-Johnston has just returned from Venice and will be giving her verdict on this vast celebration of art where almost anything goes.
And a new film 13 Conversations About One Thing sees a cast including John Turturro and Matthew McConaughey being forced to consider life's big subjects - the human condition, fortune, happiness, honesty - and find themselves having to face up to the consequences of their actions. Natasha Walter discusses the film with Isabel Hilton.
Night Waves, live at 9.30pm here on BBC Radio 3.
Presenter: Isabel Hilton
Producer: Jerome Weatherald
Additional Information:
1) The Venice Biennale runs from June 12 - November 6 http://www.labiennale.org/en/
2) Brandenburg by Henry Porter is published in hardback by Orion
3) Intrigue: Espionage and Culture by Allen Hepburn is published in hardback by Yale University Press
4) 13 Conversations About One Thing goes on national release on Friday, cert 15
5) A Picture of Britain is happening across the BBC and at other venues.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/apictureofbritain/
6) As part of A Picture of Britain Night Waves has commissioned new writing by Beryl Bainbridge, Louis De Bernieres, Paul Farley and David Lodge. This will be performed by the authors at Tate Britain on Wednesday 6 July. For tickets call 020 7887 8888 or visit www.tate.org.uk/tickets
