10 July 2004
Saturday 10 July 2004 21:30-22:15 (Radio 3)
Ian McMillan presents the third in a series of new commissions in which contemporary writers look again at the Greek myths. This week, poet Ruth Padel reads a gripping short story based on the myth of Deianeira and the death of Heracles, who perished in agony after putting on a poisoned cloak, a gift from a woman who loved him. Also featuring a new piece by Ken Campbell.
Programme Details
Ruth Padel joins Ian McMillan to read her new version of the myth of Heracles and Deianeira, and also to judge The Verb's, and indeed the world's, first Ode Slam, with poet and translator Josephine Balmer championing Catullus, and Vincent Katz defending Sextus Propertius from New York, in this tussle of the long dead.
Ruth Padel's new collection of poetry 'The Soho Leopard' is published by Carro and Windus.Vincent Katz's new 'Complete Elegies of Sextus Propertius' is published by Princeton University Press.And Josephine Balmer's 'Catullus, Poems of Love and Hate', and 'Chasing Catullus', are both published by Bloodaxe.
From the first city of the ancient world we turn to New York, New York, and Simon Louvish's new book 'The Cosmic Follies' (published by the ICA and Blok Books), which sets out to capture an unusual side of the city in an unconventional way. Simon joins Ian to define experimental fiction for us.
And Ken Campbell returns, this week examining laughter and the possibilities of self-tickling...
