Main content

Madness in Civilisation, Night Walking

Matthew Sweet with Andrew Scull, author of Madness in Civilisation, and Lisa Appignanesi. Plus Matthew Beaumont, author of Night Walking, and Deborah Longworth on the 'flaneuse'.

Matthew Sweet talks to Andrew Scull, author of Madness in Civilisation about how different cultures around the world and through time have dealt with what we might call madness, insanity or the loss of reason and how the experience, felt or observed, has been interpreted by writers and artists. They are joined by Lisa Appignanesi, author of Trials of Passion and Mad, Bad and Sad to discuss whether the west's long-term belief that madness had its roots in the body was bad news for women.
Matthew Beaumont also presents his history of an ancient crime but one still on the statute books of Massachussetts - Night Walking. Via the pens of Samuel Johnson who blamed London's noxious night hours on arrogant aristocrats, to William Blake's evocations of London's Darkness, Free Thinking hears from those who had nothing in common with their slumbering fellows and who like Charles Dickens, enjoyed a time that brought some sense of better things, else forgotten and unattainable. Alongside, Deborah Longworth with a view of the flaneuse, the female solitary ambler and a pen-portrait of Dorothy Richardson whose relationship with the city of London outweighed all other passions in her life.

Available now

45 minutes

Last on

Tue 17 Mar 2015 22:00

Chapters

  • Andrew Scull: Madness in Civilisation

    Matthew Sweet discusses Andrew Scull's Madness in Civilisation with Lisa Appignanesi

    Duration: 20:26

  • Matthew Beaumont: Night Walking

    Matthew Beaumont discusses his new book, Night Walking with Deborah Longworth

    Duration: 15:04

  • Madness in Civilisation & Night Walking

    All the guests discuss the common threads of the programme with Matthew

    Duration: 08:57

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Matthew Sweet
Interviewed Guest Andrew Scull
Interviewed Guest Lisa Appignanesi
Interviewed Guest Matthew Beaumont
Interviewed Guest Deborah Longworth
Producer Jacqueline Smith

Broadcast

  • Tue 17 Mar 2015 22:00

The Arts & Ideas Podcast

The Arts & Ideas Podcast

You can download all the past episodes of Radio 3's Free Thinking

Discussions and talks from the Free Thinking Festival 2019

Discussions and talks from the Free Thinking Festival 2019

Angry politics, what we can鈥檛 say, being diplomatic, weeping, emotion in music, film & TV

Click to listen to discussions, talks and music as the Free Thinking Festival 2019 Gets Emotional

Click to listen to discussions, talks and music as the Free Thinking Festival 2019 Gets Emotional

Angry politics, what we can鈥檛 say, being diplomatic, weeping, emotion in music, film & TV

CLICK to LISTEN & SEE programmes from the Free Thinking Festival 2018: The One & the Many

CLICK to LISTEN & SEE programmes from the Free Thinking Festival 2018: The One & the Many

We examine the fast-changing relationship between the individual & the crowd

CLICK to LISTEN & SEE all programmes, images, clips & features from 2017's festival

Free Thinking Festival 2017: The Speed of Life