Walter Benjamin
Friday 19 May 2006 21:45-22:15 (Radio 3)
Matthew Sweet tackles the first English translation of Walter Benjamin's book on Hashish, based on his early experiments with the drug in the late 1920s.
Cosi Fan Tutte
Photograph by Mike Hoban
Cosi Fan Tutte at Glyndebourne
Playlist
Cosi Fan Tutte
Opera critic Rhian Evans reviews Glyndebourne's new production of Cosi Fan Tutte directed by Nicholas Hytner with the conductor Ivan Fischer making his Glyndebourne opera debut. In Cosi Fan Tutte, disguise is used to explore the difference between reality and appearance and to highlight the unpredictability of life and the nature of sentiment.
For more information and for tour dates please contact www.glyndebourne.com .
Lawrence Durrell:Selected Poems
The poet Peter Porter discusses his selection of poetry by Lawrence Durell, best known as the author of The Alexandria Quartet. This compilation is the first for thirty years and draws on the full range of Durrell's published work, from 'A Private Country (1943)' to 'Vega' (1973).
'Lawrence Durrell: Selected Poems' is published by Faber and Faber on June 1 2006.
'On Hashish Walter Benjamin' translated by Howard Eiland and Others
With the forthcoming publication of 'On Hashish', writer and broadcaster, Kevin Jackson explores why one of the most literary minds of the twentieth century, Walter Benjamin, chose to experiment with drugs. Containing a series of writings on the drug explorations conducted by Benjamin and his co-Participants between 1927 and 1934 as well as essays, letters and sketches, 'On Hashish' provides an intimate portrait of the author and his initiation into what he called "profane illumination".
'On Hashish' by Walter Benjamin will be published in June by Harvard University Press.
