Exploring the life of Alex Comfort, beyond 'The Joy of Sex', from evangelical child prodigy to anarchist free love advocate. Discussing his secret affair, intentional community in California, anarchist beliefs, financial entanglements, and evolution of sexual discourse.

Sumerian princess Enheduana, the world's first author, composed remarkable hymns as high priestess in Ur. Anna Della Subin discusses her new translation, challenging our ideas of authorship and literary history. They also explore the unique relationship between writing and weaving, the rediscovery of Enheduana's lost poems, the chanting quality of ancient verses, and metaphors of creation in literature.

From the Egyptian Revolution to Extinction Rebellion, the 2010s were marked by a global wave of spontaneous and largely structureless mass protests. Despite overwhelming numbers and popular support, most of these movements failed to achieve their aims, and in many cases led to worse conditions. James Butler joins Tom to make sense of the ‘mass protest decade’, sharing historical examples, theoretical approaches and first-hand experiences that help explain the defeats of the 2010s.Find further reading and listen ad free on the episode page: lrb.me/protestdecadeFind the Close Readings podcast in Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts, or just search 'Close Readings'.Sign up to the Close Readings subscription to listen to all our series in full:Directly in Apple PodcastsIn other podcast apps Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Seamus Perry and Mark Ford discuss Andrew Marvell's 'An Horatian Ode upon Cromwell's Return from Ireland'. Topics include the poem's impact on politics, the portrayal of Cromwell, its themes and imagery, and the interplay of arts, propaganda, and politics.

Ethiopia is one of the world’s most populous countries, and yet the 2020-22 Tigray War and ongoing suffering in the region has been largely ignored by the world at large. Tom Stevenson joins the podcast to break down the history of the conflict, and explore why Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, a Nobel laureate, has come to preside over such a brutal civil war. He also considers Abiy’s future intentions, both within and beyond his country’s borders.Find further reading on the episode page: lrb.me/tigraypod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Were the Middle Ages funny? Irina Dumitrescu and Mary Wellesley begin their series in quest of the medieval sense of humour with Chaucer’s 'Miller’s Tale', a story that is surely still (almost) as funny as when it was written six hundred years ago. But who is the real butt of the joke? Mary and Irina look in detail at the mechanics of the plot and its needless but pleasurable complexity, and consider the social significance of clothes and pubic hair in the tale.Find the Close Readings podcast in Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts, or just search 'Close Readings'.Sign up to the Close Readings subscription to listen to all our series in full:Directly in Apple PodcastsIn other podcast apps Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Did the foundational event of Proust’s great novel really happen? Michael Wood talks to Tom about several English translations of In Search of Lost Time, old and new, and what they reveal about different ways of reading the novel. If the dipping of the madeleine in his tea conjures an overwhelming memory of the narrator’s childhood, it is also a challenge to the conscious mind, a product of chance that Proust suggests might easily not have occurred at all.Find more by Michael on Proust here: lrb.me/woodproustpodSign up to Close Readings Plus: lrb.me/plus Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

James Meek, who recently reviewed 'the New TV' by Peter Biskind, joins Tom to discuss the rise of cable TV, the emergence of streaming giants, the power of showrunners, and whether the golden age of television drama is coming to an end.

Tom Crewe, Patricia Lockwood, Deborah Friedell, John Lanchester, and Rosemary Hill discuss their favorite pieces from the LRB archive, including Terry Castle's analysis of Jane Austen's letters and Alan Bennett's nuanced portrayal of Philip Larkin. Topics covered include controversial literature, bestiality in poetry, and mistaken identity at a party.

Byron’s early poems – his so-called ’dark tales’ – have been dismissed by critics as the tawdry, slapdash products of an uninteresting mind, and readers ever since have found it difficult not to see them in light of the poet’s dramatic and public later life. In a recent piece for the LRB, Clare Bucknell looked past the famous biography to observe the youthful Byron’s mind at work in poems such as The Giaour (1813), The Corsair (1814) and Lara (1814), where early versions of the Byronic hero were often characterised by passivity, rumination and choicelessness.Clare discusses the piece with Tom, and talks about her new Close Readings series, On Satire, with Colin Burrow, which features Don Juan alongside works by Jane Austen, Laurence Sterne, John Donne, Muriel Spark and others.Read Clare's piece on Byron: https://lrb.me/byronpodJoin Clare and Colin Burrow for their series on satire next year, and receive all the books under discussion, access to online seminars and the rest of the Close Readings audio, with Close Readings Plus: https://lrb.me/plusytTo subscribe to the audio only, and access all our other Close Readings series:Sign up directly in Apple here: https://apple.co/3pJoFPqIn other podcast apps: https://lrb.me/byronsc Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.