The LRB Podcast

Mary Renault's Worldbuilding

Apr 11, 2023

45:22

Creator website

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Episode notes

Introduction

2min

Renault and the Minotaur

3min

The Myth of Thesis and the Minotaur

2min

Mary Renolt: The Woman Behind the Pseudonym

5min

Fire From Heaven by Alexandra the Great

2min

The Search for Alexander

3min

The Erotic Charge of Alexander

2min

Thesis: A Mythical Six Foot Six Giant

2min

Thesis: A Novel About a Matriarchal Mother Goddess Worshiping Society

6min

10.

Mary Reynolds: A Woman of Her Time

3min

11.

The Importance of Race in the Study of Plato

4min

12.

The Charioteer

4min

13.

The King Must Die

5min

14.

The Last of the Wine

3min

Miranda Carter joins Tom to talk about the life and historical fiction of Mary Renault, whose popular and ingenious retellings of stories from Ancient Greece have never been out of print. They discuss her eventful life, which took her from Edwardian East London to apartheid South Africa, and her meticulous classical reconstructions.

Find further reading on the episode page: lrb.me/maryrenaultpod

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