Red Thread: On Mazes and Labyrinths

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Charlotte Higgins

David Jackson Young

Red Thread: On Mazes and Labyrinths by Charlotte Higgins: 2. Forbidden Library

2. Forbidden Library

Red Thread: On Mazes and Labyrinths by Charlotte Higgins

BBC Radio 4 - Red Thread: On Mazes and Labyrinths by Charlotte Higgins, 2. Forbidden Library

The forbidden library in Umberto Eco's novel and Hereford Cathedral’s mappa mundi.

Charlotte Higgins discusses the forbidden library in Umberto Eco's novel and Hereford Cathedral’s mappa mundi. From 2018.

Charlotte Higgins discusses some literary labyrinths, including the mysterious, forbidden library in Umberto Eco's novel The Name of the Rose. 

And she describes the extraordinary mappa mundi at Hereford Cathedral, a medieval "cloth of the world" (with the island of Crete and its "eleven course labyrinth" - the lair of the Minotaur - particularly prominent). But as Higgins observes, Hereford's mappa mundi is "not just a diagram of space, it is a map of time and destiny..." 

Series exploring more of our ancient fascination with mazes and labyrinths, and reflects on their significance - in art and in mythology, in literature and in life. 

Written and read by Charlotte Higgins. 

Abridged and produced by David Jackson Young.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2018.

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Author Charlotte Higgins explores our ancient fascination with mazes and labyrinths.

Charlotte Higgins reflects on the significance of mazes and labyrinths in art and mythology, in literature and in life.

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Red Thread: On Mazes and Labyrinths by Charlotte Higgins

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