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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 Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4.

28 minutes

Last on

Sun 22 Dec 2019 06:05
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ 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 Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

    Performer: The Fron Male Voice Choir.
    • Voices Of The Valley Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ.
    • 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

Μύ

Title: Dublin - A PortraitΜύ

Author: Brendan KennellyΜύ

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

Μύ

Title: This Colourful PictureΜύ

Author: Vinod Kumar Shukla

Μύ

Title: The Red and the Black

Author: Roger Gard Stendhal

Published by Penguin

Μύ

Title: Barchester TowersΜύ

Author: Anthony TrollopeΜύ

Published by Project Gutenberg

Broadcasts

  • Sun 9 Jul 2017 06:05
    Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4
  • Sun 22 Dec 2019 06:05
    Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4