I've just watched a very interesting documentary on BBC Four on Mary Renault. It worked hard to put Renault's work in the context of movements in Classical education in the 1950s, and managed to pack much more into an hour than most history programmes do - at one point I looked at the clock and saw it had only been going on for twenty minutes, which I couldn't believe given what they'd managed to say.
The Usual Suspects (Tom Holland, Bettany Hughes, etc.) were among the talking heads, but there were also contributions from professional academics (and friends of mine) Gideon Nisbet and Nick Lowe. I shall clearly have to do something about reading more of Renault than just The Praise Singer. Curiously though, no mention of her one non-fiction book, The Nature of Alexander.
The programme is repeated at 00:50 tonight, and will no doubt appear on BBC2 soon. Watch for it.
1 comment:
Hello, I am writing from the United States, and read your blog while surfing the web, looking for information on Mary Renault. I am preparing for a study group on her Theseus novels; it would add great interest to the class to be able to show the documentary you mentioned seeing on the BBC. Do you know of any way I could rent, borrow or buy a copy???? Please email me at rfkavesh@aol.com.
Many thanks.
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