Greece on Air
Engagements with Ancient Greece on BBC Radio, 1920s-1960s
Published on 29. October 2015
Book
Hardback
352 pages
978-0-19-964478-0 (ISBN)
Description
Greece on Air offers the first substantial discussion of the fascinating history of creative and public engagements with ancient Greek literature, history, and thought via the BBC Radio, from the birth of domestic broadcasting in the 1920s up to the 1960s.
The astonishing range of programmes broadcast in this period includes some of the most interesting, creative, and political engagements with ideas from and about ancient Greece in twentieth-century Britain. From talks to schools and adult education groups, creative re-imaginings of ancient historical texts written and broadcast as Second World War propaganda, and scores of performances of Greek tragedy, comedy, and their modern adaptations, Wrigley draws on the vast amount of evidence that exists in the written archives (both for production processes and also listeners' responses) to develop a full understanding of the role of the radio medium in public engagements with ancient Greece in twentieth-century Britain.
The astonishing range of programmes broadcast in this period includes some of the most interesting, creative, and political engagements with ideas from and about ancient Greece in twentieth-century Britain. From talks to schools and adult education groups, creative re-imaginings of ancient historical texts written and broadcast as Second World War propaganda, and scores of performances of Greek tragedy, comedy, and their modern adaptations, Wrigley draws on the vast amount of evidence that exists in the written archives (both for production processes and also listeners' responses) to develop a full understanding of the role of the radio medium in public engagements with ancient Greece in twentieth-century Britain.
Reviews / Votes
Greece on Air extensively documents just how formidable Greece's presence on British radio used to be ... a compelling account of the diversity in these decades of public participation in ancient Greece's radio life -- and beyond. * Johanna Hanink, Times Literary Supplement * Greece on Air excels in its ability to guide readers through, and weave a compelling story from, the maddeningly complex and frustratingly lacunose; it does great service in opening up a previously all-but-unexplored field of reception of the ancient world in modern mass culture ... Wrigley writes elegantly and with unfailing clarity, delivering a deservedly upbeat story. * Gideon Nisbet, Journal of Radio & Audio Media * Amanda Wrigley's Greece on Air fills a gap in the historical field of Classics with a book which covers almost the entirety of BBC Radio's engagement with Ancient Greece and Rome in the twentieth century. She has provided an extremely thorough overview for her readers ... she has created a situation which, as well as informing the general populace in and of itself, nudges them towards discovering and learning new information for themselves. * Margaret Banford, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television * a genuinely groundbreaking study, achieving the not small task of opening up a new realm of research. * Henry Stead, Classical Review * In Greece on Air, Wrigley offers us the most comprehensive treatment to date of the ways in which radio drama has responded to, transmitted, and transformed the legacy of the classical world ... a fascinating and worthwhile monograph * Thomas Keith, Classical Journal Online *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
28 in-text illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 137 mm
Thickness: 28 mm
Weight
544 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-964478-0 (9780199644780)
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Amanda Wrigley (Research Fellow, University of Westminster) is a cultural historian who works on a broad range of topics, including ancient Greece in 20th-century British culture; radio and television programmes which adapt and create dramatic and literary forms; and mass media in formal and informal educational contexts. She is author of Performing Greek Drama in Oxford (2011), Greece on Air: Engagements with Ancient Greece on BBC Radio, 1920s-1960s (2015) and Greece on Screen: Greek Plays on British Television (forthcoming).
She studied Classics as an undergraduate at Leeds and wrote her PhD thesis in the Department of Classical Studies at The Open University. She held posts in the Faculty of Classics, University of Oxford (2001-09) and the Classics Department, Northwestern University (2009-10) before moving to the University of Westminster in 2011. She is Associate Editor of The Radio Journal. For further information, see https://amandawrigley.wordpress.com.
She studied Classics as an undergraduate at Leeds and wrote her PhD thesis in the Department of Classical Studies at The Open University. She held posts in the Faculty of Classics, University of Oxford (2001-09) and the Classics Department, Northwestern University (2009-10) before moving to the University of Westminster in 2011. She is Associate Editor of The Radio Journal. For further information, see https://amandawrigley.wordpress.com.
Content
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ; LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ; NOTE ON CONVENTIONS ; PART ONE ; INTRODUCTION. BROAD(-ER)CASTING ANCIENT GREECE ; PART TWO ; CONCLUSION. PUBLIC PROPERTY; OR, CLASSICS FOR ALL ; APPENDIX. PRODUCTION CHRONOLOGY ; BIBLIOGRAPHY ; INDEX