Start the Week Growing Up
11 snips
Mar 23, 2026 
Laura Tisdall, historian of modern Britain exploring youth under Cold War anxieties. David Szalay, Booker-winning novelist probing adolescence, desire and class. Penny Woolcock, filmmaker whose memoir maps rebellion in a British settler enclave in Argentina. They discuss intense teenage feeling, hidden histories and how formative risks, violence and culture shape identities across time.
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Radical Theatre Led To Arrest And A New World
- Penny joined a radical theatre group in Buenos Aires; a public happening led to attack by a crowd and her brief arrest.
- The incident felt like a portal into another world, turning a small act of rebellion into months of consequences.
Istvan's Adolescence Sets His Whole Life
- David Szalay begins Flesh at age 15 without backstory to capture adolescence's bewildering immediacy.
- Istvan is groomed by an older neighbour, an episode that triggers death, juvenile detention and shapes his entire adult trajectory.
Adolescent Events Carve Lifelong Patterns
- Szalay argues adolescent events can determine life patterns, so early abuse echoes into later relationships and choices.
- Istvan's early sexual relationship and later marriage to a powerful woman intentionally mirror each other to show repeated patterns.
