In 1933, at the age of eighteen, Patrick Leigh Fermor set off on foot from England to walk to Constantinople. He is arguably the outstanding travel writer of our time. This film explores his life and work. Interviewed at his home in the Peloponnese, Fermor talks about his travels and relates the story of his heroic wartime exploits in German-occupied Crete, immortalised in the Dirk Bogarde film III Met by Moonlight. He also reads from his work.
Joseph Heller
One of the towering figures of twentieth-century literature and the writer who gave the phrase ‘Catch-22’ to the English language, Joseph Heller died in 1999. This profile focuses on his novel, God Knows, with its somewhat surprising choice of biblical subject matter. Filmed on Coney Island, where he grew up, and at home in New York, Heller talks about the ideas that underlie this intriguing book. Dramatised extracts from God Knows are included.
Anthony Burgess on D.H. Lawrence
Novelist Anthony Burgess presents a personal appraisal of D. H. Lawrence (1885-1930). The portrait he paints is of a polemicist against his country and his age: against petty materialism and class conflict, against militarism and the prevailing sexual repressiveness. The film uses locations in Nottinghamshire and Cornwall, extensive period documentation of Lawrence’s work and times, and includes readings from his novels, essays and poems.
Ed Mcbain
In 1954, Blackboard Jungle – the film of Evan Hunter’s book – scandalised America with its raw, provocative view of post-war adolescence. Hunter changed his name to Ed McBain and built a huge international reputation with his thrillers about New York’s 87th Precinct detective squad. In this programme he talks about his work and is followed on a night-time journey through his New York domain. Dramatised sequences from his books are also included.
Catherine Cookson
Catherine Cookson (1906-98) was a writer who won a huge popular following and many of her books have been successfully dramatised for television. This programme employs an innovative combination of film and video techniques to evoke her struggle to survive an impoverished upbringing in the slums of East Jarrow. Cookson confronts her past which led to a massive and terrifying nervous breakdown many years afterwards. She talks candidly about her life and the experiences that underlie her fiction.
Hertejoch Zanker
Jaap Drupsteen adapted a successful music theatre production, using a wide range of special effects and computer graphics, to create this extraordinary video fantasy. A series of scenes, as intriguing and illogical as those in dreams, make up a dramatic story-line which involves characters every bit as strange as those who inhabit the plays of Samuel Beckett. Music forms an integral part of the piece, creating and underlining tensions between the characters.
Alberto Moravia
Alberto Moravia (1907-90), one of Italy’s foremost modern novelists, talks revealingly about his long career, his experience of Fascism, and about women and sex – concerns that lie at the heart of his writing. Filmed in Rome and on Capri, the programme focuses on his novel 1934, and includes contributions from writer Dacia Maraini and film-maker Bernardo Bertolucci, as well as readings from his work.
John le Carré
World-famous for his spy thrillers, Le Carré avoids publicity. In this rare television interview, he talks revealingly about his books and how they have been influenced by his childhood experiences and by his work for British intelligence. He focuses on his novel, The Little Drummer Girl. Le Carré reads from his books and the programme includes extracts from the film, The Spy Who Came In From The Cold and the television series, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.
Patricia Highsmith
Thriller writer Patricia Highsmith, America’s first lady of crime, died in 1995. She was best-known for her creation Tom Ripley, amoral crook and killer. This film combines interviews with Highsmith alongside dramatisations from Ripley Underground.
Kurt Vonnegut
The American cult satirist achieved international fame with his novel, Slaughterhouse Five, based on his own experiences as a prisoner of war in Dresden during the Allied bombing of 1945. In this survey of his work, filmed on location in New York, Vonnegut explores his obsession with the betrayal of mankind by science and technology. He also gets under the skin of the characters he has created and enters into a dialogue with his fictional alter ego, Kilgore Trout.