The Essay

BBC Radio 3
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Feb 14, 2020 • 13min

Nat Segnit - The Other Ibiza

As an injured soldier under house arrest, Xavier de Maistre staved off boredom by imagining every step around his drawing room was a step across a country; Virginia Woolf’s writerly wandering around central London to buy a pencil exposed the city's transformation in darkness. Inspired by these ironic quests and symbolic expeditions, five contemporary writers embark on walks of entertaining eccentricity.In this episode, journalist, writer and keen walker Nat Segnit seeks recovery and retreat in the unseen mountains of Ibiza, a mysticism-inspired path once trodden by Walter Benjamin.Producer: Ciaran Bermingham
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Feb 12, 2020 • 14min

Stephanie Victoire - Dark Hollow Falls

As an injured soldier under house arrest, Xavier de Maistre staved off boredom by imagining every step around his drawing room was a step across a country; Virginia Woolf’s writerly wandering around central London to buy a pencil exposed the city's transformation in darkness. Inspired by these ironic quests and symbolic expeditions, five contemporary writers embark on walks of entertaining eccentricity.In this episode, writer and Shamanic Energy Healer Stephanie Victoire has a haunting hike in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Appalachia, meditating on the ancient paths of Native American precursors. Producer: Ciaran Bermingham
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Feb 11, 2020 • 14min

Michael Donkor - On Wandsworth Bridge

As an injured soldier under house arrest, Xavier de Maistre staved off boredom by imagining every step around his drawing room was a step across a country; Virginia Woolf’s writerly wandering around central London to buy a pencil exposed the city's transformation in darkness. Inspired by these ironic quests and symbolic expeditions, five contemporary writers embark on walks of entertaining eccentricity.Writer Michael Donkor continues these imaginative journeys by traversing, south to north, across Wandsworth Bridge – perhaps the Thames’ most neglected crossing, but for him a conduit between adult responsibility and childhood memory.Producer: Ciaran Bermingham
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Feb 11, 2020 • 14min

Jenn Ashworth - The Abiding Mental Riches of Preston

As an injured soldier under house arrest, Xavier de Maistre staved off boredom by imagining every step around his drawing room was a step across a country; Virginia Woolf’s writerly wandering around central London to buy a pencil exposed the city's transformation in darkness. Inspired by these ironic quests and symbolic expeditions, five contemporary writers embark on walks of entertaining eccentricity.Lancastrian writer Jenn Ashworth begins these imaginative journeys with a trip to Preston's Harris Museum, Gallery and Library, retracing her teenage footsteps and pondering the mental riches promised within.Producer: Ciaran Bermingham
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Jan 31, 2020 • 17min

10: The Resurrection

Ross Sutherland takes us to the birth of modern art as he traces the extraordinary life of Arthur Cravan. Cravan's anarchic art heralded Dada , surrealism, situationism, punk rock and alternative comedy. His whole life was an extravagant show and his influence spreads right across the 20th century.Cravan went through life using multiple mysterious personas. He was the nephew of Oscar Wilde, a boxing champion, a notorious art critic, a scandalous performer, a deserter, the husband of modernist poet Mina Loy, and was pursued by the CIA.This mystery story, led by writer Ross Sutherland, tracks across twenty countries as Cravan's outlandish persona shifts between incarnations. Ross's journey leads him to Cravan's greatest riddle of all - his disappearance in the Gulf of Mexico.In this episode Ross investigates one of Cravan's most outrageous stunts. This programme contains very strong language.Writer and Presenter: Ross Sutherland Produced for the BBC by Melvin Rickarby Music by Jeremy WarmsleyExcerpt from Cravan's Weird Seance courtesy of Daniel Oliver
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Jan 30, 2020 • 17min

9: The Missing

Ross Sutherland takes us to the birth of modern art as he traces the extraordinary life of Arthur Cravan. Cravan's anarchic art heralded Dada , surrealism, situationism, punk rock and alternative comedy. His whole life was an extravagant show and his influence spreads right across the 20th century.Cravan went through life using multiple mysterious personas. He was the nephew of Oscar Wilde, a boxing champion, a notorious art critic, a scandalous performer, a deserter, the husband of modernist poet Mina Loy, and was pursued by the CIA.This mystery story, led by writer Ross Sutherland, tracks across twenty countries as Cravan's outlandish persona shifts between incarnations. Ross's journey leads him to Cravan's greatest riddle of all - his disappearance in the Gulf of Mexico.In this episode, with Ross hitting a series of blank walls in his research, he attempts to find search the elusive Roger Conover, an authority on Arthur Cravan. This programme contains very strong language.Writer and Presenter: Ross Sutherland Produced for the BBC by Melvin Rickarby Music by Jeremy WarmsleyExcerpt from Cravan's Weird Seance courtesy of Daniel Oliver
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Jan 29, 2020 • 19min

8: The Echo

Ross Sutherland takes us to the birth of modern art as he traces the extraordinary life of Arthur Cravan. Cravan's anarchic art heralded Dada , surrealism, situationism, punk rock and alternative comedy. His whole life was an extravagant show and his influence spreads right across the 20th century.Cravan went through life using multiple mysterious personas. He was the nephew of Oscar Wilde, a boxing champion, a notorious art critic, a scandalous performer, a deserter, the husband of modernist poet Mina Loy, and was pursued by the CIA.This mystery story, led by writer Ross Sutherland, tracks across twenty countries as Cravan's outlandish persona shifts between incarnations. Ross's journey leads him to Cravan's greatest riddle of all - his disappearance in the Gulf of Mexico.In this episode Ross investigates the aftermath of Cravan's mysterious vanishing,This programme contains very strong language.Writer and Presenter: Ross Sutherland Produced for the BBC by Melvin Rickarby Music by Jeremy Warmsley
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Jan 28, 2020 • 17min

7: The Love Story

Ross Sutherland takes us to the birth of modern art as he traces the extraordinary life of Arthur Cravan. Cravan's anarchic art heralded Dada , surrealism, situationism, punk rock and alternative comedy. His whole life was an extravagant show and his influence spreads right across the 20th century.Cravan went through life using multiple mysterious personas. He was the nephew of Oscar Wilde, a boxing champion, a notorious art critic, a scandalous performer, a deserter, the husband of modernist poet Mina Loy, and was pursued by the CIA.This mystery story, led by writer Ross Sutherland, tracks across twenty countries as Cravan's outlandish persona shifts between incarnations. Ross's journey leads him to Cravan's greatest riddle of all - his disappearance in the Gulf of Mexico.In this episode Ross investigates Cravan's relationship with modernist poet Mina Loy.This programme contains very strong language.Writer and Presenter: Ross Sutherland Produced for the BBC by Melvin Rickarby Music by Jeremy Warmsley
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Jan 27, 2020 • 17min

6: The Persona

Ross Sutherland takes us to the birth of modern art as he traces the extraordinary life of Arthur Cravan. Cravan's anarchic art heralded Dada , surrealism, situationism, punk rock and alternative comedy. His whole life was an extravagant show and his influence spreads right across the 20th century.Cravan went through life using multiple mysterious personas. He was the nephew of Oscar Wilde, a boxing champion, a notorious art critic, a scandalous performer, a deserter, the husband of modernist poet Mina Loy, and was pursued by the CIA.This mystery story, led by writer Ross Sutherland, tracks across twenty countries as Cravan's outlandish persona shifts between incarnations. Ross's journey leads him to Cravan's greatest riddle of all - his disappearance in the Gulf of Mexico.In this episode Ross investigates Cravan's mutiple personas, to find out what lay beneath.This programme contains very strong language.Writer and Presenter: Ross Sutherland Produced for the BBC by Melvin Rickarby Music by Jeremy WarmsleyExcerpt from Cravan's Weird Seance courtesy of Daniel Oliver
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Jan 24, 2020 • 16min

5: The Deserter

Ross Sutherland takes us to the birth of modern art as he traces the extraordinary life of Arthur Cravan. Cravan's anarchic art heralded Dada , surrealism, situationism, punk rock and alternative comedy. His whole life was an extravagant show and his influence spreads right across the 20th century.Cravan went through life using multiple mysterious personas. He was the nephew of Oscar Wilde, a boxing champion, a notorious art critic, a scandalous performer, a deserter, the husband of modernist poet Mina Loy, and was pursued by the CIA.This mystery story, led by writer Ross Sutherland, tracks across twenty countries as Cravan's outlandish persona shifts between incarnations. Ross's journey leads him to Cravan's greatest riddle of all - his disappearance in the Gulf of Mexico.In this episode Ross investigates how Cravan's used his art to evade the authorities as the First World War began.Writer and Presenter: Ross Sutherland Produced for the BBC by Melvin Rickarby Music by Jeremy WarmsleyExcerpt from Cravan's Weird Seance courtesy of Daniel Oliver

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