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John Yorke unpacks the themes behind the stories in Radio 4's weekend afternoon dramas.

Producer and writer John Yorke unpacks the themes and impact behind the books, plays and stories that are being dramatised in Radio 4's weekend afternoon dramas.

Producer and writer John Yorke has worked in television and radio for 30 years, and he shares his experience with Radio 4 listeners as he unpacks the themes and impact behind the books, plays and stories that are being dramatised in Radio 4's weekend afternoon dramas.

BBC Radio 4 LW

Opening Lines: If on a Winter's Night a Traveller

If on a Winter's Night a Traveller

BBC Radio 4 - Opening Lines, If on a Winter's Night a Traveller

John Yorke takes a look at Italo Calvino's novel If On A Winter's Night A Traveller.

The series that takes a look at books, plays and stories and how they work. John Yorke examines Italo Calvino's metafictional novel If On A Winter's Night A Traveller.

John Yorke takes a look at If On A Winter's Night A Traveller, a novel by one of the most translated Italian writers of the 20th century, Italo Calvino.   Published in 1979, this dizzying work of metafiction takes you on a journey into the very nature of reading.   

The novel begins with you, the Reader, going into a bookshop to buy a copy of If on a Winter's Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino.  You start reading, and you're just getting gripped by the story when there seems to be a printer's error.  You take the book back to the shop for a replacement, but the replacement seems to be a totally different story.  

In fact, every time you try to find the story you started reading, you end up with a completely different one, in a completely different genre - from noirish detective story, to romance, adventure, political intrigue and Gothic horror.   The one thing that all these stories have in common is that they end at a cliffhanger moment.  It's a literary puzzle, which challenges conventions at every turn, and constantly seeks to engage the reader's imagination.   

John Yorke has worked in television and radio for nearly 30 years, and he shares his experience with Radio 4 listeners as he unpacks the themes and impact of the books, plays and stories that are being dramatised on BBC Radio 4.  From EastEnders to The Archers, Life on Mars to Shameless, he has been obsessed with telling big popular stories. He has spent years analysing not just how stories work but why they resonate with audiences around the globe, and has brought together his experience in his bestselling book Into the Woods. As former Head of Channel Four Drama, Controller of BBC Drama Production and MD of Company Pictures, John has tested his theories during an extensive production career working on some of the world’s most lucrative, widely viewed and critically acclaimed TV drama. As founder of the hugely successful BBC Writers Academy, John has trained a generation of screenwriters - his students have had 17 green-lights in the last two years alone.

Contributors:
Tim Crouch, Writer and Theatre Maker
Merve Emre, Shapiro Silverberg Professor of Creative Writing and Criticism at Wesleyan University, and contributing writer at The New Yorker Magazine. 


Readings: Paul Dodgson
Researcher: Nina Semple
Production Manager: Sarah Wright
Sound: Martyn Harries
Producer: Kate McAll
Executive Producer: Sara Davies
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4

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