The Goldster Magazine Show with Humphrey

Dr Barry Webb is a literary scholar with a wealth of knowledge on numerous authors, spanning multiple genres and eras. With a profound understanding of the power of literature, he has a knack of guiding readers below the surface of the chapters and sentences to show how the art of writing can bring things so vividly to life –- whether modernism, post-war fiction, literary biography or a solid cosy crime whodunnit. He is specifically known for his deep exploration of 20th Century fiction, and Barry’s recent focus has been on the mostly forgotten, but once highly praised novelist R.C. Hutchinson who wrote between 1930 and 1971.  He gained a reputation for an evocative writing style, creating complex characters and opening an intriguing window into the human condition. Yet, despite being awarded TheSunday Times Gold medal for fiction, the W.H.Smith award for the best novelist of the year, being short-listed for the Booker Prize, and several of his seventeen novels becoming best-sellers, Hutchinson’s name has not withstood the test of time compared to his contemporaries. How exactly does this unpredictable world of writing actually work.  Ask Barry about any of your favourite authors whether they be Richard Osman, Agatha Christie, Jane Austen or Patricia Highsmith of The Talented Mr Ripley fame. Why do some endure, like Shakespeare and Chaucer, and why do some vanish from our conversation. To get answers, join Barry Webb with Humphrey Hawksley on the Goldster Magazine Show at 1pm British time on Tuesday December 10th 2024.