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@bowie
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 1:57

Troy: The Greek Myths Reimagined | Let's Talk Books with Stephen Fry

article image placeholderTroy by Stephen Fry
Everyone I know has a story about how they first discovered Stephen Fry for my film Lover Friends. It's through one of the many films he's been in. Whether it's Wild Gosford Park, the voice of the hitchhiker hikers Guide to the Galaxy, the Hobbits. I mean, I could go on and on for book nerds like myself, many of us first discovered or deepened our Stephen Fry fandom through the magic of the written word. I resisted reading Harry Potter for years

Join us in discussing @stephenfry's latest book, the crafts of writing and acting, and much more. #authorinterview #newbooks #books

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@stephenfry
Stephen Fry
@stephenfry · 4:59
Couldn't rid his mind of the idea that there was one missing. Hestia anointed the bridal couple with oils while Apollo's son Himineles sang in praise of the gods and the bliss of matrimony. No sooner had Hero sat down after blessing the Union than a commotion was heard at the mouth of other cave. A crowd of nymphs and dryads outside tumbled apart in a flurry of confusion as the one deity who had not been invited strode through
article image placeholderUploaded by @stephenfry
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@stephenfry
Stephen Fry
@stephenfry · 4:57

Writing…

Very lots of white dead men like Louis Carol and Robert Louis Stevenson's, Alice and Treasure Island and Winnie the Pooh but then, as I grew up and loved Arthur Conan Doyle and the great sort of wonderful Victorian crunch and Majesty of his language. But the story that really changed me was going to the library. Well, it started because I saw a film, and I heard people speaking in this extraordinary way that I'd never heard before
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@bowie
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 1:57

@stephenfry Lessons from the Greek myths for 2021

The two books preceding Troy, the voice in these books, and I can hear it in Troy, too. I get the very best of what I love as a reader. There's the drama and wonder of the Greek myths paired with your very particular, hilarious wit and voice. I heard you talk a bit in an interview about how you wanted to take these compelling classical stories out of other stuffy classics classroom that you grew up with and make them more relatable to the modern reader
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@stephenfry
Stephen Fry
@stephenfry · 4:59

Icarus, Phaeton and Bellerophon

What lessons have they left us? That's an interesting question. On the one hand, of course, it's very important to remember that myths are not authored fables like ESOP's fables or later moralistic fables that are told in either children's fairy tales or actual children's books in which there is a lesson to be learned
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@bowie
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 1:13

@stephenfry Writing voice

And it made me think a lot about the striving in writing or any sort of art and thinking about voice again, in relation to these books for me as a reader of any genre, if I fall in love with The Voice, if it compels me enough, I will follow it anywhere, no matter what kind of story it is. When you wrote this trilogy, how much did you consider Voice? And I wonder, is the Voice we encounter on the page?
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@stephenfry
Stephen Fry
@stephenfry · 4:51

Voices…

So it's a mistake, too. Perhaps it's a mistake. We might come to this question of what's right and wrong in writing at another point, because there's so much teaching going on at the moment, and so many people are being told how to write and how to prepare anyway. There we are
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@bowie
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 2:10

@stephenfry Audience, acting, & writing

And I hope I never lose my wonder around that it had me thinking more about this workshop I took with a writer recently and speaking of teaching, and we discussed the relationship between writing and acting or performance, and it landed with me because I realized that when I write, whether fiction, nonfiction, it doesn't matter what the genre is
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@stephenfry
Stephen Fry
@stephenfry · 5:00

The performative aspects to writing

I want to say that's because you haven't yet understood how difficult writing is. You think it's easier. And when you see how difficult it is, you assume that you must be ill suited to it. But actually, if you really grasp how hard it is to write a book, then you're on your way
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@Swell
Swell Team
@Swell · 0:15

Welcome to Swell!

@bowie
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 2:07

@stephenfry The world of the audiobook

Like we were talking about before and circling back a bit to where we started this conversation with voice and audio writing. And you're talking about the mishmash of performance within all of that, too. And you are one of the most incredible audiobook narrators I have ever heard. And I listen to a lot of audiobooks, and whether it's your own work or someone else's, I am astounded time and again by your ability to make a whole world come to life with your voice
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@stephenfry
Stephen Fry
@stephenfry · 5:00

Audiobooks Pt 1

A kind of personal proof that we exist is in the space between our ears and the sound that comes out when we vibrate our larynxes or larynxes. So voice, to me is desperately important and telling stories. There's an old adage, isn't there in movies and things that we show, not tell. It's become an absolute tourism. But I want to call it, or at least to question it. Sometimes telling is the right thing to do
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@stephenfry
Stephen Fry
@stephenfry · 4:59

Audiobooks Pt 2

A lot of actors find it absolutely overwhelming and terrifying, or if not terrifying, burdensome laborious toil too much, too much effort, and the concentration required is phenomenal. But I decided and many people disagree with me for one reason or another. But I decided that it might be a false dichotomy. But if you divide people, especially creative people, into entertainers and artists, I think it's reasonable. We all know what an artist is
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@bowie
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 3:32

@stephenfry Writing rules & the gifts of being a reader & writer

Speaking of not being good at everything, hearing more about your growing up and into being an actor and writer made me think of a lesson I've learned myself over the years when it comes to my own writing practice. Or it's probably more accurate to say I'm still learning it, and that is that I don't need to be good at everything
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@stephenfry
Stephen Fry
@stephenfry · 4:59

Process…

Barry, thank you for your lovely message. I'm glad my last answer meant something to you. I do appreciate your response and thank you for this final pair of questions. The first part is very interesting, isn't it anyone who's written or indeed who attends literary festivals of one kind or another or book events, author events of the kind that proliferate these days. They will know that there is a real curiosity on the part of the reading public and the potentially writing public
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@stephenfry
Stephen Fry
@stephenfry · 4:58

Off the rails

I am endlessly grateful to the world of letters, if I can put it that way for a very personal reason. And I think although this is perhaps extreme, or at least it was extreme years ago, it no longer is. When I was eleven or twelve, I discovered Oscar Wilde because I enjoyed the importance of being earnest so much it thrilled me, the use of language in it. And so I began to discover more and more about this remarkable man
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@bowie
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 2:57

@stephenfry Cheers to being off the rails 🎉

This trilogy is truly remarkable, and I just have to let you know that I've heard from several people who have been listening to this conversation that either they have already read the books and now they're going through the audiobooks again or they went and got them and they're starting them with their book club, and they're just so thrilled to discover them if they haven't had the chance already
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