Modernist Conversations is a podcast from Royal Holloway, University of London, that talks around and about modernism, defined in its broadest senses, both thematically and historically. Inviting different researchers, artists and innovators each month, Prof. Chris Townsend and Dr. Polly Hember talk with them about literature, film, music, painting, and twentieth century cultures.
Modernist Conversations
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Podcast Overview
Modernist Conversations is a podcast from Royal Holloway, University of London, that talks around and about modernism, defined in its broadest senses, both thematically and historically. Inviting different researchers, artists and innovators each month, Prof. Chris Townsend and Dr. Polly Hember talk with them about literature, film, music, painting, and twentieth century cultures.
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Publishing Since
1/23/2024
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Recent Episodes
May 24, 2024
Modernism and Whimsy with Beci Carver
<p>We’re joined by Beci Carver on this special episode of Modernist Conversations, where we speak about her new book project, <em>Modernism’s Whims</em>, which searches for a type of modernist temperament whose traces were meant to be faint. </p> <p><br></p> <p>Thanks to Beci for joining us on the podcast. For more information about Beci and her research, see: <a href="https://english.exeter.ac.uk/staff/carver/">https://english.exeter.ac.uk/staff/carver/</a> or follow her on Twitter/X at @becimay </p> <p><br></p> <p><em>Modernism’s Whims</em> will be published in 2025 by Oxford University Press. </p> <p><br></p> <p><strong>Get in touch: </strong></p> <p>Emali: <a href="mailto:modernistconversations@gmail.com">modernistconversations@gmail.com</a> </p> <p>Twitter/X: @modernistconvoInsta: @modernistconversations</p> <p>Bluesky: @modernistconvo.bsky.social</p> <p><br></p> <p><strong>Clips (voiced by Christopher Castle) </strong></p> <p>‘Wedding’ by Alice Oswald</p> <p>‘The Ants’ by William Empson </p> <p><br></p> <p><strong>Further reading </strong></p> <p>Beci Carver, <em>Granular Modernism </em>(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014)</p> <p>David Foster Wallace, <em>Infinite Jest </em>(Abacus, 1997)</p> <p>‘AVEC ARDEUR’ by Marianne Moore </p> <p>‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ by William Shakespeare</p>
March 25, 2024
Drinking in Bolton: Time, Drinking Beer and the Mass Observation Project with Simon Prince
<p>We’re delighted to be speaking to Simon Prince about modernism, time, war, and drinking beer for the second episode of Modernist Conversations. Discussing Simon’s research with Jennie Taylor on the Mass Observation Project, we talk about the temporal rhythms of modernity, community, and the idea of ‘pub time’.</p> <p><br></p> <p>Modernist Conversations is hosted and researched by Chris Townsend and Polly Hember. We hope you enjoy this metaphorical trip to the pub. Please do review and subscribe for more modernist conversations – and do share with anyone you think might like it. Thanks for listening! </p> <p><br></p> <p>Thanks to Simon Prince for joining us on the podcast. For more information about Simon, see: <a href="https://www.canterbury.ac.uk/people/simon-prince">https://www.canterbury.ac.uk/people/simon-prince</a> </p> <p><br></p> <p><strong>Get in touch: </strong></p> <p>Emali: <a href="mailto:modernistconversations@gmail.com">modernistconversations@gmail.com</a> </p> <p>Twitter/X: @modernistconvoInsta: @modernistconversations</p> <p>Bluesky: @modernistconvo.bsky.social</p> <p><br></p> <p><strong>Clips (voiced by Richard Teverson):</strong></p> <p>Charles Madge, <em>New Statesman and Nation</em> (2 January 1937)</p> <p>Tom Harrisson, Humphrey Jennings, and Charles Madge, ‘Anthropology at Home’, New Statesman and Nation (30 January 1937)</p> <p>‘Social Diversions in a Cotton Town’, newspaper article about Mass Observation’s work in Bolton, Manchester Guardian, 24 March 1938, WC, 3/A, Mass Observation Archive (MOA)</p> <p>Humphrey Jennings, ‘Poetry and national life’, BBC radio broadcast, June 1938 in Kevin Jackson (ed.),<em>The Humphrey Jennings Film Reader </em>(Manchester, 1993) </p> <p>‘The Packhorse restaurant’, observations and overheard conversations at the restaurant, 31 July ?, WC, 3/D, MOA.</p> <p>Charles Madge, ‘Drinking in Bolton’ (1938), in <em>Of Love, Time and Places </em>(London: Anvil Press, 1994), p. 108. </p> <p>‘The Grapes by day and by night’, WRL, description of exterior of the Grapes during the day and at night, WRL, Worktown Collection (WC), 3/C, MOA. </p> <p><br></p> <p><strong>Further reading: </strong></p> <p>John Hampson, Saturday Night at the Greyhound (London: Hogarth Press, 1931)</p> <p>Simon Prince and Jennie Taylor, ‘Temporalities, ritual and drinking in Mass Observation’s Worktown’, <em>The Historical Journal, </em>64.4<em> </em>(September, 2021), 1083-1104.</p> <p>Charles M. Tung, <em>Modernism and Time Machines </em>(Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2020)</p> <p>David Hall, <em>Worktown: The Astonishing Story of the Project That Launched Mass Observation</em> (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2016)</p> <p>Anne-Marie Kramer, ‘The Observers and the Observed: The “Dual Vision” of the Mass Observation Project’, <em>Sociological Research Online</em>, 19.3 (2014), 1–11.</p>
January 23, 2024
H.D. and Robert Herring at work and play on the French Riviera
<p>In this first episode, Prof. Chris Townsend and Dr. Polly Hember discuss their own research, taking us on a journey along the French Riviera. </p> <p> We’re focusing on the POOL group, who were an influential collective of writers, filmmakers and film critics who became the first Anglophone modernists to argue (amongst other things) in favour of film as an art form. </p> <p> Come prepared to learn not just about the group's core members, Kenneth Macpherson, H.D. and Bryher, but also their lesser known key contributors such as Robert Herring and Oswell Blakeston. This episode maps POOL group’s key figures and moments: from their experimental lifestyles to the avant-garde ideas that they engaged with. This episode explores the influence of Monte Carlo on the group, a town they visited regularly in the early 1930s. Chris and Polly’s analyses are accompanied by H.D. and Herring’s autobiographical notes and personal correspondence, showing how the French Riviera inspired two texts, Herring’s novel Cactus Coast and H.D.’s short story ‘Mira-Mare’.</p> <p> We hope you will enjoy this reflection on what the French Riviera meant to the POOL group, and how it influenced two neglected modernist texts. If you liked it, please consider subscribing to more modernist conversations as we invite guests to discuss more of modernity!</p> <p><br></p>
3 total episodes available
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- What is Modernist Conversations?
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This podcast updates weekly.
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This podcast is available on 6 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.
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Yes, this podcast regularly features guests.
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