Fresh Air Weekend: Messud, Volk And Scorsese

Fresh Air Weekend highlights some of the best interviews and reviews from past weeks and new program elements specially paced for weekends. Our weekend show emphasizes interviews with writers, filmmakers, actors and musicians, and often includes excerpts from live in-studio concerts. This week:

'The Woman Upstairs': A Saga Of Anger And Thwarted Ambition: In her new novel, Emperor's Children author Claire Messud explores the complicated relationship between two women: Nora, who longed to be an artist and have a family but failed, and the woman Nora befriends, who puts her art first and built a family as well.

'Shocked': Patricia Volk's Memoir About Beauty And Its Beholders: Even as a child, Patricia Volk knew she would never measure up to her strikingly beautiful mother. But after reading the memoir of fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli, Volk found a new understanding of beauty that had more to do with personality than a pretty face.

Scorsese Talks 'The Language Of Cinema': In a talk he titled "Persistence of Vision: Reading the Language of Cinema," the famed director spoke passionately about the history of cinema and the films that stoked his love for the medium.

You can listen to the original interviews here:

'The Woman Upstairs': A Saga Of Anger And Thwarted Ambition

'Shocked': Patricia Volk's Memoir About Beauty And Its Beholders

Scorsese Talks 'The Language Of Cinema'

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