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Front Row: Bruce Springsteen's Western Stars, Harold Bloom, Islamic folios, new 'Monuments Men'

23/10/2019

Bruce Springsteen's Western Stars, Harold Bloom, Islamic folios, new 'Monuments Men'

BBC Radio 4 - Front Row, Bruce Springsteen's Western Stars, Harold Bloom, Islamic folios, new 'Monuments Men'

Bruce Springsteen's new film Western Stars, and the legacy of the late Harold Bloom.

Bruce Springsteen's film of his latest album Western Stars; the late controversial figure Harold Bloom; cut-out Islamic folios; a new 'Monuments Men' initiative.

Bruce Springsteen is about to release a film of his latest album, Western Stars. In the hayloft of his 100-year-old barn in New Jersey, he performs the album alongside a full orchestra, featuring brass, banjo, accordion and steel guitar. Kate Mossman, features editor of The New Statesman, reviews the film which coincides with the singer's 70th birthday.

The death was announced last week of the American literary critic Harold Bloom. The author of more than 40 books, which reframed the work of the romantic poets and William Shakespeare, Bloom was a controversial figure, a defender of the idea of the 'Western Canon' and an avowed literary elitist. Literary critic and cultural historian Lara Feigel, and James Marriott, Assistant Literary Editor at The Times - and a Bloom fan from a young age - explore Harold Bloom’s complicated legacy.

Illuminated pages taken from a 15th century Islamic manuscript come up for sale at Christie's in London tomorrow.  They come from a Persian manuscript The Paths of Paradise that depicts the Prophet’s ascent to heaven and are so rare it’s estimated they could sell for £1m each. Only one complete copy of the manuscript now exists and an American art historian has described the auction as 'immoral'. Professor Christiane Gruber from the University of Michigan explains why she is calling on the art world to boycott it.  

Presenter John Wilson
Producer Jerome Weatherald

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