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BEHIND CLOSED BOOKS

Program 05-05-15-A

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Middle English isn't what it used to be. Add a back-beat, some high-flying rhymes, and you've got a hot new version of Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales." In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the madcap transformation of one of literature's oldest classics from history to hip hop. Also, the hidden lives of the Bronte sisters.

SEGMENT 1:

Rapper Baba Brinkman tells Anne Strainchamps that Geoffrey Chaucer's work has a lot in common with the language of hip hop music and that justifies his setting the "Canterbury Tales" to a rap beat to make it relevant to today's audiences. And we hear examples of Brinkman's Rap Canterbury Tales. Also, Terry Jones, formerly of Monty Python's Flying Circus, has written a book called "Who Murdered Chaucer?" He tells Jim Fleming why he thinks Chaucer's disappearance has everything to do with the turmoil going on in English politics at the dawn of the 14th century.

SEGMENT 2:

Lucasta Miller is the author of "The Bronte Myth." She tells Anne Strainchamps that the Bronte sisters cultivated their image as lonely geniuses living in isolation but had to accept the real limitations imposed on women by society.

SEGMENT 3:

Colm Toibin is the author of a novel called "The Master," based on the life of Henry James. Toibin tells Steve Paulson that James was a popular bachelor in London society whose private life is shrouded in secrecy. Toibin says he wasn't heterosexual, but stops short of calling him gay.

Cassette copies are available at 1-800-747-7444. Ask for program number 05-05-15-A.

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Books:

• Terry Jones, Who Murdered Chaucer: a Medieval Mystery (St. Martin's Press)
• Lucasta Miller, The Bronte Myth (Bantam)
• Colm Toibin, The Master (Scribner)

Website:

• www.babasword.com

Music:

• The Rap Canterbury Tales/ Baba Brinkman/ Babasword
  -General Prologue
  -The Knight's Tale
  -The Miller's Tale
  -The Wife of Bath's Tale
• -Saltarello/ Istanpitta (a medieval dance band)/ Lyrichord
  
• -Wuthering Heights/ Kate Bush from "Whole Story"/ Capitol
  
• -Gabriel's Oboe/ Original Soundtrack from the film "The Mission"/ Virgin

Distribution dates:

week of 08/06/2006 - hour 2 week of 05/15/2005 - hour 1

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Questions and comments can be addressed to: flemingj@wpr.org

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