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Night Waves

The Free Thinking Lecture - Will Self

Episode image for The Free Thinking Lecture - Will Self

Duration: 1 hour

Author and columnist Will Self gives the opening lecture for Free Thinking 2008, BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio Merseyside's festival of ideas, recorded in front of a live audience at Liverpool's Bluecoat arts centre.

Self argues that the way the mind is portrayed in novels is preposterous. Why are we so resistant to attempts to represent the mind as we really experience it, in all its terror, exhilaration and confusion? Are many of our finest novels designed to reassure us that we are 'normal'?

Introduced by Matthew Sweet.

  • Will Self

    The celebrated author and columnist Will Self gives the opening lecture at Free Thinking 08, BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio Merseyside’s festival of ideas in Liverpool, recorded in front of a live audience at Liverpool’s Bluecoat arts centre.

    In a provocative and highly original lecture, Will Self argues that the way the mind is portrayed in novels is preposterous. He asks why we are so resistant to attempts to represent the mind as we really experience it, in all its terror, exhilaration and confusion? Are many of our finest novels designed to reassure us that we are ‘normal’?

    Hosted by Matthew Sweet, the lecture will be recorded in front of an audience at The Bluecoat, the oldest building in Liverpool’s city centre, built in the 18th century as a charity school and now restored as a dynamic and thriving arts venue.

  • The Free Thinking Lecture

    Watch and comment on Will Self's lecture

  • BROADCASTS FROM THE FREE THINKING FESTIVAL

    All Free Thinking broadcasts coming up or in iPlayer

Broadcasts

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