EPISODE · Feb 6, 2020 · 28 MIN
Kirk Douglas remembered, American Dirt, Daniel Kehlmann
from Front Row · host BBC Radio 4
We look at the career of Kirk Douglas who has died at the age of 103. Not only was he a fine actor - and one of the last of the Hollywood Golden Age - he was also a fearless campaigner for social causes who tried to break through the restrictions imposed by the Hollywood system. American Dirt, a novel about a mother and son attempting to cross the Mexico/US border, has been the subject of fierce debate over the last fortnight. One of the 2020s' most hotly-anticipated releases, its white author Jeanine Cummins has been accused of exploitation, pedalling clichés and being culturally ‘tone deaf’ to the plight of the lives of Mexican migrants which the book attempts to explore. Ignacio Sanchez Prado, Professor of Latin American Culture, and Telegraph book critic Jake Kerridge, explore the issues.Daniel Kehlmann, author of the global bestseller Measuring the World, speaks to Samira about his new historical epic Tyll, about a wandering performer and court jester who lives through the Thirty Years War.Presenter Samira Ahmed Producer Oliver JonesMain image: Kirk Douglas Photo credit: Silver Screen/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
What this episode covers
We look at the career of Kirk Douglas who has died at the age of 103. Not only was he a fine actor - and one of the last of the Hollywood Golden Age - he was also a fearless campaigner for social causes who tried to break through the restrictions imposed by the Hollywood system. American Dirt, a novel about a mother and son attempting to cross the Mexico/US border, has been the subject of fierce debate over the last fortnight. One of the 2020s' most hotly-anticipated releases, its white author Jeanine Cummins has been accused of exploitation, pedalling clichés and being culturally ‘tone deaf’ to the plight of the lives of Mexican migrants which the book attempts to explore. Ignacio Sanchez Prado, Professor of Latin American Culture, and Telegraph book critic Jake Kerridge, explore the issues.Daniel Kehlmann, author of the global bestseller Measuring the World, speaks to Samira about his new historical epic Tyll, about a wandering performer and court jester who lives through the Thirty Years War.Presenter Samira Ahmed Producer Oliver JonesMain image: Kirk Douglas Photo credit: Silver Screen/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
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Kirk Douglas remembered, American Dirt, Daniel Kehlmann
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