Main content

Alberto Manguel, Alice in Wonderland, Fashionable Victorian Writers

Matthew Sweet is joined by Alberto Manguel as he considers curiosity, changing reading habits from Thomas Aquinas to Thomas Hardy and the image of Alice in Wonderland's tea party.

Matthew Sweet interviews Alberto Manguel about his new book, Curiosity, in which he tracks his life through the reading that has mapped his way, looking at Thomas Aquinas, David Hume, Lewis Carroll and Dante.

As Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland turns 150 and a new exhibition opens at the Museum of Childhood in London, New Generation Thinker Naomi Paxton, and curator Kiera Vaclavik, consider the cultural impact of the Mad Hatter's Tea Party.

And as Thomas Hardy's Far From the Madding Crowd gets another big screen outing in a version starring Carey Mulligan, we ponder the Victorian writers who fall in and out of fashion in the modern era.

Producer: Craig Templeton Smith.

Available now

45 minutes

Chapters

  • Alberto Manguel

    Matthew Sweet interviews Alberto Manguel about his new book, Curiosity

    Duration: 23:15

  • Alice in Wonderland

    Naomi Paxton, Kiera Vaclavik & William Abberley consider the Mad Hatter's Tea Party

    Duration: 13:18

  • Fashionable Victorian Writers

    William Abberley ponders the Victorian writers who fall in & out of fashion

    Duration: 06:53

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Matthew Sweet
Interviewed Guest Alberto Manguel
Interviewed Guest Naomi Paxton
Interviewed Guest Kiera Vaclavik
Producer Craig Templeton Smith

Broadcast

  • Tue 28 Apr 2015 22:00

Featured in...

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