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1922: The Birth of Now

Matthew Sweet investigates objects and events from 1922, the crucial year for modernism, that have an impact today.

Radio 4,12 episodes

Episodes

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Tutankhamun and Egyptomania; Nosferatu; Pirandello's Henry IV; Einstein, Time and Aboriginal Modernism
An omnibus edition of four things from 1922 with an impact a century later.
04 Feb 2022,57 mins
Einstein, relativity, time, and indigenous Australian modernism
Einstein's ideas about time and parallels with the indigenous Australian conception of it.
04 Feb 2022,14 mins
Pirandello's Henry IV and the Idea of Truth
Luigi Pirandello's 1922 play Henry IV and the idea that truth can be what we say it is.
03 Feb 2022,14 mins
Hōshō, the First Aircraft Carrier, and HMS Queen Elizabeth - and Cocaine
Hōshō, the first aircraft carrier, and HMS Queen Elizabeth, the most recent.
02 Feb 2022,14 mins
Nosferatu and Modernist Horror
Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror, the first vampire film and its influence after a century
01 Feb 2022,14 mins
The Discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamun, and Egyptomania
The discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922, sparking Egyptomania, that continues.
31 Jan 2022,14 mins
The Shabolovka Tower and the Gherkin, The Criterion, The True Story of Ah Q, Louis Armstrong goes to Chicago
An omnibus edition of four things from 1922 with an impact a century later.
28 Jan 2022,57 mins
Louis Armstrong leaves New Orleans for Chicago
Louis Armstrong leaves New Orleans for Chicago in 1922 a move with profound influence
28 Jan 2022,14 mins
Bertolt Brecht's play Drums in the Night
Bertolt Brecht's play Drums in the Night and the concept of alienation in the theatre
27 Jan 2022,14 mins
The True Story of Ah Q, by Lu Xun
The True Story of Ah Q, by Lu Xun, China's first modernist work of literature
26 Jan 2022,14 mins
The Criterion, which published The Waste Land
The Criterion, in which the seminal modernist poem The Waste Land first appeared.
25 Jan 2022,14 mins
The Shabolovka Tower and the Gherkin
The Shabolovka Tower and The Gherkin
24 Jan 2022,14 mins