26 June 2004
Saturday 26 June 2004 21:45-22:30 (Radio 3)
As the Olympic flame arrives in London, Ian McMillan presents a new series of commissions in which contemporary writers look again at the Greek myths.
The first is a short story by Panos Karnezis, author of the acclaimed collection Little Infamies and the novel The Maze. His story is based on the myth of Arachne, a supremely gifted weaver who dared challenge the goddess Minerva to a contest.
Also featuring new work from Ken Campbell, and a feature on the great Pablo Neruda.
Playlist
As the Olympic Torch arrives in London Panos Karnezis, author of 'The Maze' and 'Little Infamies' has written the first in a new series of Verb commissions based on Greek myths. Panos's new short story is based on the story of Arachne, the young seamstress transformed by Minerva, as punishment for her skill, into a spider.
In the wake of the news that a new vernacular translation of The New Testament is under way, we hear from Father Henry Wansborough, until recently Head of Divinity at Oxford University and a member of The Pope's biblical commission, who has first hand experience of translating The Bible.
Poet Henry Shukman and composer Peter Cowdrey perform some of Henry's verses - with a little help from their friends Lorna MacDonald, Emily White, and Olly Hunt… and five trombones. Henry's collection of poetry 'In Doctor No's Garden' is published by Cape Poetry.
Ken Campbell explores the life and language of Getrude Stein - in his own inimitable and unexpected way.
And on the centenary of Pablo Neruda's birth, an exploration of the Stalinist politics of the great Chilean love poet - the Nobel Prize winner whose poetry taught a whole generation of Chileans how to fall in love. Carlos Fuentes described him as the "King Midas of language. Everything he touched became poetry". Louis De Bernieres, author of 'Captain Corelli's Mandolin' and his latest novel 'Birds Without Wings' (pub. Secker & Warburg), joins Neruda's biographer Adam Feinstein and poet Jane Duran to discover how the lyricism of his poetry could sit with his marxist ideaology.
