Kate Chisholm

Radio is the best way to mug up on the classics

Plus: is Radio 3’s Private Passions dumbing down to be more accessible? And why has The Archers become so absurdly false?

Mikhail Bulgakov. Photo: Getty 
issue 21 March 2015

If ever I found myself at a pretentious literary party obliged to play David Lodge’s ‘Humiliation’ game and to confess to the great books I’ve never read, I’d only escape the ignominy of winning (by being the most ignorant) because of the radio and the almost weekly possibility of hearing yet another classic adapted as a drama or read at bedtime.

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