Enchantment, Witches and Woodlands
In Marie Darrieussecq's new novel the forest is a haven for fugitives. Lisa Mullen and Dafydd Daniel report on the Ashmolean exhibition of magic and witches. Matthew Sweet presents
Matthew Sweet takes to the woods with thoroughly modern witch, William Hunter, and writer and folklorist, Zoe Gilbert, to look for green men and suitable spots for a ritual. If modern magic is all about re-enchanting the world then old magic was more about fear and keeping witches out but as a new exhibition opens in Oxford, Dafydd Daniel and Lisa Mullen discuss whether magical thinking is an inevitable part of being human while in Marie Darrieussecq's new novel set in a not very far away and dystopian future, the forest is the last haven for fugitives.
Our Life in the Forest by Marie Darrieussecq also looks at clones and trafficking. Her first novel, Pig Tales, was translated into thirty-five languages.
As Radio 3 explores the idea of forests of the imagination she joins presenter Matthew Sweet along with New Generation Thinkers Dr Dafydd Daniel, who teaches at Jesus College, University of Oxford and Dr Lisa Mullen, who is the Steven Isenberg Junior Research Fellow, Worcester College.
Zoe Gilbert's novel Folk is out now.
Spellbound: Magic, Ritual & Witchcraft runs at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford until 6 January 2019.
A playlist of Radio 3's Into the Forest programmes is here https://bbc.in/2RUE1La
Producer: Jacqueline Smith.
Last on
More episodes
Podcast: Enchantment, Witches and Woodlands
Marie Darrieussecq, Lisa Mullen, Dafydd Daniel on magic and dystopias with Matthew Sweet.
Broadcast
- Thu 18 Oct 2018 22:00Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3
Featured in...
The Way We Live Now—Free Thinking
From moral questions to the quirks and pleasures of life.
Into the Forest—Breakfast
Programmes and features exploring the enchantment, escape and magical danger of forests.
Arts
Creativity, performance, debate
Discussions and talks from the Free Thinking Festival 2019
Click to listen to discussions, talks and music as the Free Thinking Festival 2019 Gets Emotional
CLICK to LISTEN & SEE programmes from the Free Thinking Festival 2018: The One & the Many
CLICK to LISTEN & SEE all programmes, images, clips & features from 2017's festival
Free Thinking Festival 2017: The Speed of Life