Share

cover art for Episode 7: Asking awkward questions in Bloomsbury

The Culture Boar

Episode 7: Asking awkward questions in Bloomsbury

Ep. 7

The Bloomsbury Group leave an uneasy legacy. But is there really a connection between place and creativity? If so, what does this mean for creatives shut out from these places?


Property and relative wealth proved a foundation for the Bloomsbury Group's artistic freedom. But does an artist's personal biography - their class, their image, their resources - limit how we receive their work?


Works referenced:



A Home of One's Own: Why the Housing Crisis Matters & What Needs to Change by Hashi Mohamed (2022, Profile Books)

A Room of One's Own, Virginia Woolf

Roger Fry, Vision and Design

The Death of the Author, Roland Barthes

Mrs Dalloway, Virginia Woolf


This episode was recorded in London, England, by Susan Gordon. You can read a transcript of the episode on her website, https://ampereworks.weebly.com/the-culture-boar-podcast.html


More episodes

View all episodes

  • Episode 18: Ted Berrigan, and goodbye for now

    04:01|
    Join me for Sonnet XXXVI by Ted Berrigan. I also bid farewell as the first series draws to a close. Thank you to everyone I've been in touch with, it's been a pleasure.Read and listen to Sonnet XXXVI here: https://www.everseradio.com/sonnet-xxxvi-ted-berrigan/
  • 17. Episode 17: Friday Find in Poetry: Thom Gunn’s The Idea of Trust

    06:09||Season 1, Ep. 17
    My hair pushed back by the wind, a gale, in fact: a collection of poems by Thom Gunn. These are manly poems: reports from the seat of a motorcycle, or by the needle of a record player. And then something slightly different, The Idea of Trust. I read and discuss the poem in this edition of Friday Find.Listen to Thom Gunn read The Idea of Trust here: https://voca.arizona.edu/track/id/62024
  • 16. Episode 16: Just saying: Siblings pamphlet reviewed, interiority in poetry, Philip Larkin

    08:01||Ep. 16
    Hearing a good conversation can be truly wonderful, so it is with pleasure that I encounter Siblings from Monitor Books. I consider the discomfiting reality of poetry grounded in interiority, and - in the company of Philip Larkin - why a bit of cynicism can be a good thing.The Poetry of Philip Larkin from the British Library: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3z_i2dhnda4Monitor Books: https://www.monitorbooks.co.uk/books
  • Episode 15: On caricatures: The Point of Poetry, ‘old man yells at cloud’, Uproar! by Alice Loxton

    07:09|
    Caricatures can be inadvertently conjured in real life; they are also richly realised works of art. So why do I use the word 'caricature' to disparage? I talk about The Point of Poetry by Joe Nutt (2019, Unbound) and Uproar! Satire, Scandal & Printmakers in Georgian London by Alice Loxton (2023, Icon Books)
  • Episode 14: Going (briefly) crazy for sonnets

    06:31|
    The words of Don Paterson inspire me to write two sonnets of my own, but my new passion for sonnets proves short-lived. Why? In this podcast, I interrogate the role of trends in poetry, and the influence of a form.Books referenced:The Process of Poetry (Fly on the Wall Press, 2023) edited by Rosanna McGloneThe Art of the Sonnet, edited by Stephen Burt and David Mikics (Harvard University Press, 2010)Writing Poems by Peter Sansom (Bloodaxe Books, 1993)
  • 13. Episode 13: The razor blade of reflection. Plus: The Bake Off, kitchen sink drama, and The Wicker Man

    06:04||Season 1, Ep. 13
    If you have ever felt ambivalence about the holiday season, this episode is for you. What's really going on at Christmas and New Year's, after the favourites have been picked from the Quality Street tin? Plus, a few thoughts on contemporary and classic culture: The Bake Off, kitchen sink drama, The Wicker Man, and more.
  • 12. Episode 12: New in non fiction: Orwell: The New Life by DJ Taylor and Free Thinking by Simon McCarthy-Jones

    08:22||Ep. 12
    What sort of man was George Orwell? DJ Taylor's biography is a deep study of an often surprising figure. And I ask, what are the conditions for our best thinking? Simon McCarthy-Jones' new book, Free Thinking, turns a critical eye to the malevolent forces which seek to control our thoughts.Orwell: The New Life by DJ Taylor is published by Constable.Free Thinking: Protecting freedom of thought amidst the new battle for the mind by Simon McCarthy-Jones is published by Oneworld.This episode was recorded in London, England by Susan Gordon. You can read a transcript of the episode on her website: https://ampereworks.weebly.com/the-culture-boar-podcast.html
  • 11. Episode 11: Joanna Hogg's The Eternal Daughter, and the ghosts that haunt us all

    05:39||Ep. 11
    Celebrated British film director Joanna Hogg brings us The Eternal Daughter, starring Tilda Swinton and on general release from 24 November 2023. This finely wrought work proves the enduring relevance of ghost stories. Do we all, in fact, live with ghosts?This episode was recorded in London, England by Susan Gordon. For a transcript, please visit https://ampereworks.weebly.com/the-culture-boar-podcast.html
  • 10. Episode 10: Interview with poet Michelle Diaz

    41:41||Ep. 10
    I'm joined by Glastonbury-based poet Michelle Diaz for a lovely chat about her career trajectory and how she approaches her craft. We hear her read two poems:A Birth Journey in Nine MovementsRed in the Light of New SeeingMichelle's debut pamphlet The Dancing Boy was published by Against the Grain Press in 2019. She was made 15th Chaired Bard of Ynis Witrin in 2022, and is currently working on her first full collection.You can find Michelle on X, Facebook and Instagram. Her handles are @Michell70881630, @MichelleDiazPoet, and michellediazpoetry respectively.This episode was recorded in London, England by Susan Gordon.