In this episode of Take Four Books James Crawford is joined by the multi-award winning Vietnamese-American poet and author, Ocean Vuong. Together with the writer and editor Heather Parry, they discuss Ocean’s latest novel - ‘The Emperor of Gladness’ - and three key influences behind its creation.Set in the fictional town of East Gladness Connecticut in the early years of the 21st century, the ‘Emperor of Gladness’ is centred on nineteen-year-old Hai, and the unlikely bond he forms with with Grazina, an elderly widow succumbing to dementia. This vivid, poetic epic explore loss, hope, class and the power of human connection in the post-industrial opioid infused margins of the American Dream.Ocean’s literary influences include, 'The Brothers Karamazov'by Fyodor Dostoevsky, 'The Town and the City' by Jack Kerouac, and 'Class Fictions' by Pamela Fox.Producer: Elizabeth Ann Duffy
Editor: Gillian Wheelan This was a BBC Audio Scotland production, made in Glasgow.
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28:59
Ben Okri
Booker-prize winning writer and poet Ben Okri talks to Take Four Books, presented by James Crawford, about his new novella - Madame Sosostris & the Festival for the Broken-Hearted - and its three key influences. Ben's new book takes us to a forested chateau in the South of France for a special, one-night-only event – a fevered fancy dress ball attended by anyone, and everyone, who has been wounded by love. His three literary influences for this episode are: The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot from 1922 ; Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare from 1600; and The Outsider by Albert Camus from 1942. Our rule-breaking bonus book, was Alain-Fournier’s Les Grand Meaulnes, known as The Lost Estate in English and originally published in 1913.The supporting contributor for this episode was the Oxford academic and writer Emma Smith. Producer: Dominic Howell
Editor: Gillian Wheelan This was a BBC Audio Scotland production.
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28:55
Vincenzo Latronico
Take Four Books, presented by James Crawford, speaks to the writer Vincenzo Latronico on his new novel Perfection - which has been shortlisted for the International Man Booker prize - and explores its connections to three other literary works. Perfection (translated by Sophie Hughes) follows the lives of millennial expat couple Anna and Tom, who work as digital creatives, and seek to live out, what should be, their dream existence in a chic flat in Berlin filled with flea market furniture and house plants, and yet an undefinable feeling of unfulfillment gnaws away. For his three influences Vincenzo chose: Things: A Story Of The Sixties by Georges Perec from 1965; Wilful Disregard by the Swedish author Lena Andersson from 2013; and No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood from 2021. The supporting contributor for this episode was the Italian writer and translator Claudia Durastanti, author of Strangers I Know. Producer: Dominic Howell
Editor: Gillian WheelanThis was a BBC Audio Scotland production.
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28:30
Xiaolu Guo
This week, Take Four Books, presented by James Crawford, talks to the British-Chinese writer Xiaolu Guo about her new novel - Call Me Ishmaelle - which reinterprets Herman Melville's mighty Moby Dick story and follows the protagonist of Ishmaelle, a woman who sneaks onto a whaling ship disguised as a man. For her three influencing texts Xiaolu chose: Moby Dick by Herman Melville from 1851; Philip Hoare's Leviathan from 2009; and Othello by William Shakespeare (first performed in 1604).The supporting contributor for this episode was the literary editor and founder of the independent publisher thi wurd - Alan McMunnigall. Producer: Dom Howell
Editor: Gillian Wheelan
This was a BBC Audio Scotland production.
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28:45
Andrew O'Hagan
Three-times Booker nominated Scottish author Andrew O’Hagan tells us about his novel, Caledonian Road, and reveals three other works that inspired its creation.This state-of-the-nation novel follows 60 characters over the course of a chaotic, post-pandemic year, focussing on protagonist Campbell Flynn as his life slowly unravels before his eyes.Andrew O’Hagan’s chosen influences were The Princess Casamassima by Henry James; The Idea of Order at Key West by Wallace Stevens; and J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan.The supporting contributor is contemporary novelist Katie Ward.Producer: Rachael O’Neill
Editor: Gillian Wheelan
This was a BBC Audio Scotland production.
Presenter James Crawford looks at an author's latest work and delves further into their creative process by learning about the three other texts that have shaped their writing.
UK