The Essay Episodes Available now
The Smith - Gold and Black—Anglo-Saxon Portraits
23/30 Lesley Webster on the life of the smith and his ambivalent status in Anglo-Saxon society.
Wynflaed—Anglo-Saxon Portraits
22/30 Michael Wood on Wynflaed, seen as the first woman in British history to have left a will.
Leoba—Anglo-Saxon Portraits
21/30 Barbara Yorke on Leoba, the 8th-century nun who became a pioneering abbess in Germany.
Tessa Hadley—A Taste for the Baroque
5/5 Tessa Hadley on Henry James's sentences and jokes. Is there such a thing as Baroque prose?
Chloe Aridjis—A Taste for the Baroque
4/5 Mexican novelist Chloe Aridjis discusses the survival of Baroque in her country.
Ed Hollis—A Taste for the Baroque
3/5 Former architect Ed Hollis discusses 20th-century architecture's battle with the Baroque.
Paul Farley—A Taste for the Baroque
2/5 Paul Farley, poet and professor of creative writing, discusses 'baroque 'n' roll'.
Alexandra Harris—A Taste for the Baroque
1/5 Alexandra Harris discusses the legacy of Baroque style in 20th-century English design.
Rachel Johnson—Explaining the Explicit
5/5 Rachel Johnson asks if we are all too ready to leap to judgement about writing about sex.
Vicki Feaver—Explaining the Explicit
4/5 Vicki Feaver reflects on how the poet can explore their own sexuality.
