Ripening Lives in Frightening Times with Liz Watson

In this series of two talks – Ripening Lives in Frightening Times – she reflects on two extraordinary lives and their diaries: Anne Frank and Etty Hillesum, who both lived in a situation of confinement. Liz starts with a quote by Welsh poet, Waldo Williams: 'What is living? A broad whole found between narrow walls'. Being confined together, even in our families, can make unfamiliar demands on us. We only really know who we are by the relationship we have we with others, by the responses we receive and the reactions we return. When confined, our dwelling place can become an intensified echo chamber with voices continually bouncing off the walls and no way to get away from them. In the second talk, Liz Watson explores the diary of Etty Hillesum, looking at two main themes: the idea of finding a broad whole between narrow walls - the linking theme of Liz's two talks - and the theme of obedience.