The Spoken Word: British Writers and American Writers
Rare historic recordings published for the first time
Listen to our podcast to find out more
On 23 October 2008, the British Library releases two new additions to its popular series of literary spoken word CDs, featuring many previously unpublished recordings of great British and American writers, including Virginia Woolf, Noel Coward, Harold Pinter, Daphne du Maurier, E M Forster, Graham Greene, Evelyn Waugh, P G Wodehouse, Doris Lessing, J G Ballard, John le Carré, William Golding, Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, John Steinbeck, F Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, Raymond Chandler, Eugene O'Neill, Toni Morrison, William S Burroughs, Saul Bellow, Ralph Ellison and Gore Vidal.
The Spoken Word: British Writers and The Spoken Word: American Writers together form the largest survey of historic recordings by English-language authors and playwrights ever published. Both are available to buy from www.bl.uk/shop.
The 3 CD compilation, British Writers, includes recordings of thirty eminent UK writers discussing their lives and work. The recordings derive primarily from BBC broadcasts, the earliest of them dating from the 1930s. Many of the recordings are rarities and the majority have not been published before.
Stand-out tracks include:
- The sole surviving recording of Virginia Woolf published in its entirety for the first time
- The sole audio recording of Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes
- P G Wodehouse talks about his most famous characters, Jeeves and Wooster
- J R R Tolkien discussing whether he will be remembered for The Lord of the Rings or his academic career
- Noel Coward throwing off witticisms when interviewed at 6am at Heathrow airport
- Anthony Burgess interviewed as Stanley Kubrick's controversial film of A Clockwork Orange was released
- Harold Pinter speaks to Kenneth Tynan, a meeting of two leading men of the theatre
- Graham Greene talks about playing Russian roulette as a boy
- Joe Orton interviewed a week before he was murdered, observing tragically that a playwright's career is 'very short'
- Ian Fleming's appearance on BBC Radio 4's 'Desert Island Discs'
The 3 CD set, American Writers, includes recordings of 27 celebrated US writers. The majority of the recordings are BBC radio broadcasts, in which the writers talk about their careers, their art and politics, and these are supplemented by unpublished private recordings and American radio broadcasts. From rare early recordings by Gertrude Stein, Eugene O'Neill and F Scott Fitzgerald to more recent interviews with James Michener, Arthur Miller and Toni Morrison, this compilation covers authors and playwrights at the forefront of American literature in the 20th century. Almost all the recordings in this collection are being published for the first time.
Highlights include:
- Gertrude Stein in the only recording in which she speaks spontaneously, revealing the resemblance between her literary style and her unique manner of speaking
- Rare recordings of two early American winners of the Nobel Prize in Literature - Sinclair Lewis and Pearl Buck
- Eugene O'Neill in a rare private recording reading an extract from Long Day's Journey into Night, in which he reads a speech by Edmund, the character with whom he has been identified in real life
- Raymond Chandler interviewed by Ian Fleming, a meeting of two great thriller writers, and the only known recording of Chandler's voice
- One of only three surviving recordings of the voice of F Scott Fitzgerald
- John Steinbeck discusses his reasons for writing The Grapes of Wrath
- Lillian Hellman reads the letter she wrote to the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1952, a turning-point in responses towards the Committee's anti-Communist investigations
- Tennessee Williams reflects on the ups and downs of a career on Broadway
- Arthur Miller talks about his marriage to Marilyn Monroe
- Ralph Ellison and James Baldwin discuss the position of African-American writers in the United States
Richard Fairman, British Library Sound Archive, commented:
“These two new British Library audio collections, The Spoken Word: British Writers and The Spoken Word: American Writers, form the largest survey of historic recordings by English-language authors and playwrights ever published. With many previously unpublished BBC recordings selected from the extensive collections of the British Library Sound Archive, these compilations will offer a fascinating insight into the lives and work of these great authors”.
UK press enquiries: Ruth Howlett or Lawrence Christensen at the British Library Press Office: +44 (0)20 7412 7112 or ruth.howlett@bl.uk or Lawrence Christensen +44 (0)1937 546345 or lawrence.christensen@bl.uk
US press enquiries: Kristi McGuire, University of Chicago Press : +1 773 702 2548 or kmcguire@press.uchicago.edu
Notes for Editors
The Spoken Word: British Writers is published by the British Library on 23 October 2008, 3 CD set with accompanying booklet, price £19.95, running time 214 minutes, ISBN 978 0 7123 0541 9.
The Spoken Word: American Writers is published by the British Library on 23 October, 3 CD set with accompanying booklet, price £19.95, running time 211 minutes, ISBN 978 0 7123 0544 0.
UK orders: Both CDs are available from the British Library Shop (tel: +44 (0)20 7412 7735 / e-mail: bl-bookshop@bl.uk) and online at www.bl.uk/shop as well as other bookshops throughout the UK.
US orders: University of Chicago Press, 1427 East 60th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
Tel: +1 773 702 7700 or +1 800 621 2736 sales@press.uchicago.edu
TRACKLISTING
The Spoken Word: British Writers |
The Spoken Word: American Writers |
Disc One |
Disc One |
1. Arthur Conan Doyle |
1. Gertrude Stein |
2. Arthur Machen |
2. Sinclair Lewis |
3. Baroness Emmuska (‘Emma') Orczy |
3. Anita Loos |
4. Rudyard Kipling |
4. Raymond Chandler |
5. Algernon Blackwood |
5. Eugene O'Neill |
6. W Somerset Maugham |
6. Henry Miller |
7. G K Chesterton |
7. Pearl Buck |
8. E M Forster |
8. James Thurber |
9. P G Wodehouse |
9. F Scott Fitzgerald |
10. Virginia Woolf |
10. Thornton Wilder |
Disc Two |
11. Vladimir Nabokov |
1. J R R Tolkien |
Disc Two |
2. Rebecca West |
1. John Steinbeck |
3. Aldous Huxley |
2. Isaac Bashevis Singer |
4. J B Priestley |
3. Lillian Hellman |
5. Noel Coward |
4. James Michener |
6. Evelyn Waugh |
5. Eudora Welty |
7. Graham Greene |
6. Tennessee Williams |
8. Nancy Mitford |
7. Mary McCarthy |
9. C P Snow |
8. William S Burroughs |
Disc Three |
Disc Three |
1. Daphne du Maurier |
1. Ralph Ellison |
2. Ian Fleming |
2. Saul Bellow |
3. William Golding |
3. Arthur Miller |
4. Angus Wilson |
4. Patricia Highsmith |
5. Anthony Burgess |
5. James Baldwin |
6. Muriel Spark |
6. William Styron |
7. Doris Lessing |
7. Gore Vidal |
8. Harold Pinter |
8. Toni Morrison |
9. J G Ballard |
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10. John le Carré |
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11. Joe Orton |
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The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and one of the world's greatest research libraries. It provides world class information services to the academic, business, research and scientific communities and offers unparalleled access to the world's largest and most comprehensive research collection. The Library's collection has developed over 250 years and exceeds 150 million separate items representing every age of written civilisation. It includes: books, journals, manuscripts, maps, stamps, music, patents, newspapers and sound recordings in all written and spoken languages. Further information is available on the Library's website at www.bl.uk.