Night Waves - 03/12/2008

Philip Dodd talks to one of France's best-known intellectuals, Bernard-Henri Levy. Philosopher, journalist and activist, Levy is dynamic, globe-trotting and prolific, and embodies all those qualities of the French philosophical elite that seems to divide listeners - especially in Britain - between inspiration approval and hostility. A media star in his home country and America, Levy became an overnight sensation in 1977 when he published his anti-Marxist essay Barbarism with a Human Face and become associated with the Nouvelle Philosophie (New Philosophy) movement. Since then, he has written dozens of books on subjects right across the intellectual and political spectrum. He has ignited controversy in recent years with his books on the murder of journalist Daniel Pearl in Pakistan, and his analysis of the US, American Vertigo. Philip talks to him about his new book Left in Dark Times and his views on our changing world. Plus a review of the new production of Stephen Sondheim's musical A Little Night Music.