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Front Row

Clive James on Dante, A Season in the Congo, Paula Milne's Cultural Exchange

Duration: 30 minutes

First broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 FMLatest broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 LW

Available for over a year

With Mark Lawson.

Writer and poet Clive James discusses his ambitious version of Dante's 14th century epic poem The Divine Comedy. He reflects on the challenge and pleasure of translating the 14,233 lines which took him several years, while struggling with ill health which made him wonder whether he'd live to see it published.

Directed by Joe Wright and starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, the UK premiere of A Season in the Congo by Aimé Césaire opens on stage this week. Set in the Congo during the country's first year of independence, the play charts the life of Patrice Lumumba from his campaigning against Belgian rule, to becoming Prime Minster, to his assassination. Novelist Justin Cartwright gives his verdict.

Screenwriter Paula Milne offers her choice for Cultural Exchange - Five Easy Pieces, an influential 1970 film starring Jack Nicholson as a frustrated musician who drifts from job to job and embarks on a road trip to see his seriously ill father.

Producer Jerome Weatherald. Show less

Contributors

Presenter:
Mark Lawson
Interviewed Guest:
Clive James
Interviewed Guest:
Paula Milne

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