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Parochialism

Mark Tully explores the strengths and limitations of small ponds, examining the idea that it is not where you live that matters so much as who you are and how you behave.

Mark Tully explores the strengths and limitations of parochialism and the ease with which any label can become pejorative.

He puts forward a definition of parochialism as 'thinking you are living at the centre of the world', and addresses the perils of self-importance and condescension that being a 'big fish in a small pond' can lead to.

But he also considers two writers - the 18thC philosopher and composer Jean-Jacque Rousseau and the contemporary Indian poet Arvind Mehrotra - for whom the small town, rather than the big city, has been an impetus to their creativity.

Drawing on works from Trollop to Simon and Garfunkel, he compares arguments for living in both the town and city and suggests ultimately that it's not where you live that matters so much as who you are and how you live.

Producer: Adam Fowler
A 7digital production for 91热爆 Radio 4.

28 minutes

Last on

Sun 22 Dec 2019 06:05
91热爆 Radio 4

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Music Played

  • Berlin

    A Little Fish In A Big Pond

    Performer: Dick Haymes.
    • The Golden Years of Dick Haymes.
    • Jasmine.
    • JASBOX-9-4.

  • James Macmillan

    Nunc Dimitis

    Performer: Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic, Netherlands Chamber Choir.
    • Magnificat - MacMillan series vol. 2.
    • Challenge Classics.
    • CC 72554.

  • Simon & Garfunkel

    My Little Town

  • Bob Dylan

    Sign On The Window

    Performer: Bob Dylan.
    • New Morning.
    • Columbia.
    • CK-30290.

  • Putnam

    The Green Green Grass of 91热爆

    Performer: The Fron Male Voice Choir.
    • Voices Of The Valley 91热爆.
    • UCJ.
    • 1779-253.

  • Giovanni Battista Pergolesi

    3rd Mvmt: Allegro from Sinfonia Li Prodigi Della Divina Grazia Nella Conversione e Morte di San Giglielmo d'Aquitania

    Performer: Orchestra dell'Accademica Nazionale di Santa Cecilia - Roma. Performer: Anna Netrebko.
    • Sabat Mater: A Tribute to Pergolesi.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.
    • 4779337.

Readings

Title: Letter to D'Alembert

Trans.: Alan Bloom

Author: Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Published by Cornell University Press

听

Title: Dublin - A Portrait听

Author: Brendan Kennelly听

Published in A Portrait in the Time For Voices pub. Bloodaxe

听

Title: This Colourful Picture听

Author: Vinod Kumar Shukla

听

Title: The Red and the Black

Author: Roger Gard Stendhal

Published by Penguin

听

Title: Barchester Towers听

Author: Anthony Trollope听

Published by Project Gutenberg

Broadcasts

  • Sun 9 Jul 2017 06:05
    91热爆 Radio 4
  • Sun 22 Dec 2019 06:05
    91热爆 Radio 4