Barbara Bray: A champion of French ‘New Novelists’ on British radio

Abstract

Abstract This article examines the role played by Barbara Bray in the selection, adaptation, translation and, occasionally, production of works by French New Novelists on the BBC’s Third Programme starting in the late 1950s. Bray worked tirelessly to promote these francophone avant-garde authors, including Michel Butor, Marguerite Duras, Claude Mauriac, Claude Ollier, Robert Pinget, Alain Robbe-Grillet and Nathalie Sarraute. She was particularly passionate about the work of Duras and Pinget, with whom she maintained a professional relationship as their translator even after leaving the BBC. A study of samples of Duras and Pinget’s radiophonic adaptations illustrates Bray’s talents. Although the results of her efforts were mixed as some authors and texts were rejected by the British radio giant, she helped expose audiences to important experimental works, all while encouraging certain writers to more fully explore the radiophonic affinities of their art.