Monday 6th December - 06:00 PM GMT
The Good, The Great and The Ghosts of the Past
Are we losing faith in the new and reverting to tradition?
A century ago, in what some would see as the highpoint of modernism, the new held all the cards. New literature, new art, new music, this was the driving force of culture. But now with a vast archive available to all, the past is in. Not one of top ten best selling artists of all time was born less than 60 years ago. Old tv series are some of the most popular shows. Might we be losing faith in the new and reverting to an era of safety and tradition? And is this a broader sign of our loss of belief in progress itself?
Should we see our attachment to the Beatles, Blackadder and Bach, as a deep conservatism that should be overcome? Should we dream again of an age where the new in every form is the only thing worth having? Or does the past hold the great works and the contemporary is but thin and weak by comparison?
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Myriam François
Author, broadcaster, podcast host
Myriam Francois is an author, broadcaster and academic on issues related to Islam, France and the Middle East. She is host of the increasingly popular We Need to Talk about Whiteness Podcast.
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Dame Jenni Murray is a journalist and broadcaster, best known for presenting BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour between 1987 and 2020. She is also author of 'Fat Cow, Fat Chance' and 'A History of the World in 21 Women'.
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Grafton Tanner
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