I’m listening to a great programme on history and literature, coming from Cheltenham Literary Festival and broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Repeated tonight at 9.30, or available as a podcast. Sebastian Faulks was particularly interesting.
‘In a special programme recorded at the Cheltenham Literature Festival Andrew Marr talks to Bernhard Schlink, author of ‘The Reader’, about his latest novel to be translated, which pits youthful idealism against the reality of terrorism. Margaret MacMillan explores the uses and abuses of history, while Peter Snow tries to unpick the man from the legend in his biography of Wellington. Sebastian Faulks explores the history of the novel, and discusses the challenges in both historical and contemporary fiction.’