Radio 4's morning programme The Long View has taken a welcome and critical look at how Parliament and the media have demonised computer games by examining the scandal which surrounded the early English novels. In particular, host Jonathan Freedland explores the cult and controversy that surrounded the 18th century novel Pamela.
From the blurb:
In the 1740's similar concerns were raised when Samuel Richardson's novel 'Pamela' took the public imagination by storm. For the first time readers were entering a hyper-realistic world - one where a servant girl being pursued by her master - and the line between reality and fiction became blurred; the novel's arrival also coincided with the introduction of the sofa to the nation's reading rooms giving birth to the first 'couch potatoes'.
Well worth a listen for considered and intelligent debate. Also for Brian Blessed's gender bending antics. The current episode is only available until Tuesday 16 January.
