Podcast
Isaiah Berlin
Hosted by Oxford University · EN
Isaiah Berlin (1909–1997), founding President of Wolfson College, University of Oxford, is regarded as one of the leading thinkers of the twentieth century. He was famous as an extempore lecturer, and his inimitable speaking style is well illustrated in this series of podcasts.
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Political Judgement
Sep 3, 202100:29:13Tap to summarizeA 1957 BBC Third Programme talk by Isaiah Berlin on the distinctiveness of the understanding and judgement we deploy in human affairs, especially in the field of politics 'What is it to have good judgement in politics? What is it to be politically wise, or gifted, to be a political genius, or even to be no more than politically competent, to know how to get things done?' These are the opening words of this 1957 BBC Third Programme talk, from the series 'Thinking about Politics', in which the celebrated political theorist Isaiah Berlin discusses the distinctive capacities we deploy in our understanding of human affairs, and especially in assessing political situations and making decisions about how to act politically. The talk is included in Berlin’s collection 'The Sense of Reality: Studies in Ideas and Their History', edited by Henry Hardy (London, 1996: Chatto and Windus; 2nd ed., Princeton, 2019: Princeton University Press).
Transcribe →Anna Akhmatova reading her poems about Isaiah Berlin in Oxford in 1965
May 23, 201400:12:31Tap to summarizeThis podcast is in Russian. This short recording includes 'Cinque' and other poems inspired by the poet's meetings with Isaiah Berlin. The celebrated Russian poet Anna Akhmatova came to Oxford at Isaiah Berlin's instigation in June 1965, a year before her death, to receive an honorary DLitt. In this short recording, made at New College, Oxford, during her visit, she reads a number of her poems (in the original Russian). Some of them were inspired by Berlin's visits to her in Leningrad in 1945–6. For IB's recollections of these visits see his 'Meetings with Russian Writers in 1945 and 1956' in his 'Personal Impressions' (3rd edition, 2014, pp. 356-432). The poems are: 1. 'It is stingy, and rich' (1910s): «И скупо оно и богато ...» 2. 'Another Song' (1956), from 'Sweetbriar in Blossom': «Как сияло, так и пело ...» 3. 'You demand poems from me bluntly ...' (1962), from 'Sweetbriar in Blossom': «Ты стихи мои требуешь прямо ...» 4. From 'Prologue, or Dream within a Dream', from the play 'Enuma Elish' (1960s): Из пьесы «Пролог или Сон во Сне» 5. The complete cycle of five poems, 'Cinque' (1945–6), written immediately after meeting Berlin; Akhmatova wrote no. 2 down for Berlin in a presentation copy of her 'From Six Books' (1940) – see preview image «Как у облака на краю ...» «Истлевают звуки в эфире ...» «Я не любила с давних дней ...» «Знаешь сам, что не стану славит ...» «Не дышали мы сонными маками ...» 6. 'We thought: we are beggars ...' (1915): «Думали: нищие мы, нету у нас ничего ...» 7. 'Verses about St Petersburg' (1913): «Вновь Исакий в облаченье ...» «Сердце бьется гулко, мерно ...» 8. 'Ah, for you Russian is not enough ...' (1962): «А тебе еще мало по-русски ...»
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