Devilish Satire
The Forum is the flagship radio discussion programme of the BBC World Service. Its mission is to «discover world history, culture and ideas with today’s leading experts», and it is hosted by Bridget Kendall, the first female Master of Peterhouse of the Cambridge University and Rajan Datar, a British television presenter and journalist.
Each episode of The Forum brings together thinkers and leading figures from different academic and artistic disciplines. A typical line-up might include a scientist, a writer or other artist, and a philosopher or cultural thinker.
On January 3, 2019, The Forum explored The Master and Margarita and its cultural influence, and also asked how it reflects Bulgakov’s often traumatic experience as a writer in Stalinist Russia. Joining Bridget Kendall were Julie Curtis, one of the biographers of Mikhail Bulgakov, and known from her work Manuscripts Don't Burn, Peter Mansilla-Cruz, the director of the Museum M.A. Bulgakov in Moscow, Edythe Haber, author of Mikhail Bulgakov: The Early Years, and Olga Voronina, author of Depicting the Divine: Mikhail Bulgakov and Thomas Mann.
The title of the episode was Devilish Satire, and it was repeated on January 4, 5, 6 and 7, 2019.
Listen to the conversation - 44' 00''