Philip Larkin in China

Tiny In All That Air

Our guest today is Douglas Bell, Professor of English Language Education at the School of Education, University of Nottingham, Ningbo, China.

Professor Douglas Bell first joined us in April to talk about the 2024 Conference in Hull and kindly stayed on the line to talk to me more widely about Philip Larkin in China. We talk about the reading and translation of Larkin in China, as well as the use of persona and thematic readings of Larkin. We also talk about why Larkin is not a sexist poet, Larkin’s use of rhyme, using Larkin’s poetry to exemplify language teaching, and how Doug found delivering a lecture to many of thousands of Chinese students on Philip Larkin last year. Doug reads Faith Healing and Morning at Last There in the Snow and I read Wires.

Please note there are a few glitches in the sound at the beginning but they do ease off.

13-15th September, Stapleford Granary Larkin Weekend, with jazz music, talks and a photography display. Some of the events are free, some need to be booked.

https://www.staplefordgranary.org.uk/whats-on/events/larkin-weekend

Writing workshop with former Tiny guest and award winning poet Chris Sewart and podcast host Lyn Lockwood in Hull on Saturday 21st September. We will be based at Artlink on Princes Avenue and taking a gentle stroll around the Avenues and Pearson Park before coming back to the gallery for an afternoon of writing.. There are only 12 places available so if you’re interested you might want to get booking!

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/940211757677?aff=oddtdtcreator

Poems mentioned:

The Whitsun Weddings/Church Going/To The Sea/Love Songs in Age/A Study of Reading Habits/ Faith Healing/MCMXIV/Here/Show Saturday/Heads in The Women’s Room/This Be The Verse/Talking In Bed/ Wild Oats/Dockery and Son/Days/ Morning At Last there in the snow/Wires/Wedding Wind/ Breadfruit/ Poetry of Departures/ Self’s the Man/Aubade

Warning by Jenny Joseph

Further reading and references:

Bell, D.E. (2023) The Poetry of Philip Larkin. Universal Themes Viewed Through a Peculiarly English Lens. Public lecture for Ningbo library delivered on September 23, 2023. A recording can be accessed at:

https://wx.vzan.com/live/page/2071198589?shauid=YUBtX4II7J_Vc34CAnoK1A**&vprid=0&sharetstamp=1695458198118

John Betjeman interviewing Philip Larkin in a 1964 episode of Monitor, which was a flagship arts programme on British tv during the 1950s and 1960s. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Coe11pgoj8E

David Quantick's keynote address at the PLS conference, 'Something more fidgety and various... 50 years of High Windows' at the University of Hull, 14th March 2024.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPQUTk6hUck

The Translation and Criticism of Philip Larkin’s poems in China Wan Furong, Zhang Yan

https://philiplarkin.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/AboutLarkin-49.pdf

Letters to Monica by Philip Larkin ed. Anthony Thwaite (Faber, 2011)

Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Thomas Hardy (1892)

Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff ( 1873 –1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor.

Frédéric François Chopin (1810-1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period, who wrote primarily for solo piano.

Music: One Hour by Mound City Blue Blowers

Produced by Lyn Lockwood and Gavin Hogg

Please email Lyn at ⁠[e-mail]⁠ with any questions or comments

PLS Membership and information: philiplarkin.com