Close Readings

London Review of Books

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Jan 12, 2026 • 16min

Nature in Crisis: ‘Silent Spring’ by Rachel Carson

Discover the profound impact of Rachel Carson's groundbreaking work, unraveling the web of synthetic pesticides post-World War II. Dive into her masterful writing style that transformed complex science into accessible narratives, capturing hearts and minds. Learn about the personal sacrifices Carson made while exposing the environmental crisis after a poignant birdwatcher’s letter. Explore her foresight into biomagnification and its consequences on food chains, solidifying her legacy in the environmental movement.
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8 snips
Jan 6, 2026 • 21min

Who's afraid of realism?: 'Madame Bovary' by Gustave Flaubert (part one)

James Wood dives into the intricate world of realism as seen through Flaubert's 'Madame Bovary'. He explores the tools of realism, such as impersonal narration and lifelike dialogue, while discussing the fears critics have about its constraining nature. The conversation touches on the infamous scalpel metaphor and the political insights realism offers, alongside historical critiques from notable figures. Throughout, Wood illustrates the tension between embracing and resisting realism, tracing its evolution and relevance in literature today.
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Dec 31, 2025 • 1h 4min

The Man Behind the Curtain: ‘Don Quixote’ by Miguel de Cervantes

In The Man Behind the Curtain, a bonus Close Readings series for 2026, Tom McCarthy and Thomas Jones examine great novels in terms of the systems and infrastructures at work in them. For their first episode, they turn to the book that invented the modern novel. Don Quixote, the ingenious man from La Mancha, is thought to be mad by everyone he meets because he believes he’s living in a book. But from a certain point of view that makes the hero of Cervantes’ novel the only character who has any idea what’s really going on. Tom and Tom discuss the machinery – narrative, theoretical, economic, psychological and literal (those windmills) – which underpins Cervantes’ masterpiece. This is a bonus episode from the Close Readings series. To listen to all our other Close Readings series, sign up: Directly in Apple Podcasts: ⁠⁠⁠https://lrb.me/applecrna⁠⁠⁠ In other podcast apps: ⁠⁠⁠https://lrb.me/closereadingsna⁠⁠ Further reading in the LRB: Karl Miller on ‘Don Quixote’: ⁠https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v08/n03/karl-miller/andante-capriccioso⁠ Michael Wood: Crazy Don ⁠https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v17/n15/michael-wood/crazy-don⁠ Gabriel Josipovici on Cervantes’ life: ⁠https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v01/n05/gabriel-josipovici/the-hard-life-and-poor-best-of-cervantes⁠ Robin Chapman: Cervantics ⁠https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v08/n16/robin-chapman/cervantics⁠
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Dec 29, 2025 • 17min

Novel Approaches: ‘New Grub Street’ by George Gissing

Tom Crewe, a contributing editor at the London Review of Books and novelist focused on 1890s literary London, delves into George Gissing's 'New Grub Street.' He provides insights into Gissing's life, including his Yorkshire roots and struggles with finances and social class. The discussion highlights the novel's unflinching realism, the complexities of its characters like Reardon and Milvain, and how ambition clashes with harsh realities. Crewe eloquently describes it as 'invigorating gloom,' capturing the essence of a gritty literary landscape.
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Dec 24, 2025 • 34min

Novel Approaches: 'A Christmas Carol' by Charles Dickens

Clare Bucknell, a literary scholar from All Souls College, Oxford, and Colin Burrow, a fellow critic and contributor to the London Review of Books, delve into the complexities of Dickens’s 'A Christmas Carol'. They explore whether Dickens ruined Christmas through his commercial ventures and how his dark narrative critiques Victorian social issues. The discussion highlights the unsettling mix of sentimentality and social commentary, questioning what keeps this ghostly tale in holiday tradition despite its eerie undertones.
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Dec 22, 2025 • 17min

Love and Death: Samuel Johnson, Gerard Manley Hopkins and Mick Imlah

Samuel Johnson’s doctor, Robert Levet, had piecemeal medical knowledge at best, was described as an ‘an obscure practiser in physick’ by James Boswell and was only paid for his work with gin. Yet for Johnson this eccentric man deserved a poetic tribute for demonstrating ‘the power of the art without show’, a phrase that could as much describe the poem itself. In this episode, Seamus and Mark close their series by looking at the ways in which Johnson’s elegy, 'On the Death of Dr Robert Levet', rejects the pastoral heroism of the poem they started with, Milton’s ‘Lycidas’, and compare it to two poems that offer their own kinds of unsentimental, eccentric portrait: 'Felix Randal' by Gerard Manley Hopkins and 'Stephen Boyd, 1957-99' by Mick Imlah. Seamus and Mark will be back in January to start their new series, 'Narrative Poems'. Non-subscribers will only hear an extract from this episode. To listen to the full episode, and to all our other Close Readings series, subscribe: Directly in Apple Podcasts: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://lrb.me/applecrld⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ In other podcast apps: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://lrb.me/closereadingsld⁠⁠⁠ Find tickets to Seamus's LRB Winter Lecture in London here: https://lrb.me/perrywlpod Further reading in the LRB: Freya Johnston on Samuel Johnson: https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v41/n09/freya-johnston/i-m-coming-my-tetsie! Patricia Beer on Hopkins: https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v14/n11/patricia-beer/what-he-meant-by-happiness
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Dec 18, 2025 • 16min

Fiction and the Fantastic: A Taxonomy

Join Edwin Frank, editorial director at New York Review Books and author of Stranger Than Fiction, as he dives into the thrilling world of fantastic literature. The discussion explores the flexible definitions of the fantastic, proposing categories like changes in physics and language. Edwin and the panel investigate ghostly apparitions, the chilling ambiguity in Henry James's The Turn of the Screw, and the surge of ghost stories in the 19th century. They also unveil how demonic figures can serve as sharp social critiques in fiction.
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7 snips
Dec 8, 2025 • 19min

Conversations in Philosophy: 'To the Lighthouse' by Virginia Woolf

Exploring Virginia Woolf's revolutionary vision, the discussion dives into 'To the Lighthouse' as a philosophical masterpiece. The hosts analyze the vivid characters, highlighting Mr. Ramsay's satirical reflection of Woolf's father and Lily Briscoe's artistic journey. They ponder the book's tripartite structure, depicting family life, war's impact, and eventual return. With a focus on creative expression and the nature of reality, listeners are invited to consider the deep connections between art, conversation, and human experience.
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Dec 1, 2025 • 14min

Novel Approaches: ‘The Mayor of Casterbridge’ by Thomas Hardy

After drunkenly selling his wife and child at auction, a young Michael Henchard resolves to live differently – and does so, skyrocketing from impoverished haytrusser to mayor of his adoptive town. Every unexpected disaster and sudden reversal in The Mayor of Casterbridge stems from its opening, in a plot which draws as much from realist fiction as Shakespearean tragedy and the sensation novel. Mary Wellesley and Mark Ford join Clare Bucknell to unpick the many strands in Thomas Hardy’s first Wessex novel. They explore how the novel – at once ‘algorithmic’, theatrical and fatalistic – is suffused with Hardy’s class anxieties, affinity with Dorset and fascination with pagan England. Non-subscribers will only hear an extract from this episode. To listen in full, and to all our other Close Readings series, sign up: Directly in Apple Podcasts: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://lrb.me/applecrna⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ In other podcast apps: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://lrb.me/closereadingsna⁠⁠ Further reading and listening from the LRB: Mary and Mark discuss Hardy’s medievalism on the LRB Podcast: ⁠⁠https://www.lrb.co.uk/podcasts-and-videos/podcasts/the-lrb-podcast/thomas-hardy-s-medieval-mind⁠⁠ Mark discusses Poems of 1912-13 with Seamus Perry in Love and Death: ⁠⁠https://www.lrb.co.uk/podcasts-and-videos/podcasts/close-readings/love-and-death-poems-of-1912-13-by-thomas-hardy⁠⁠  James Wood on Hardy’s life:⁠⁠ ⁠ ⁠https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v29/n01/james-wood/anxious-pleasures⁠⁠ Hugh Haughton on Hardy’s ghosts: ⁠⁠https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v07/n21/hugh-haughton/ghosts⁠⁠ Next episode: New Grub Street by George Gissing.
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Nov 29, 2025 • 17min

Next Year on Close Readings: Realism, Nature, Narrative Poems and a history of London

Meehan Crist is a writer exploring the intersection of science, politics, and culture, while Peter Godfrey-Smith is a philosopher focusing on biology and mind. They discuss the urgent themes of their 'Nature in Crisis' series, including landmark environmental texts like 'Silent Spring' and the relevance of ecofascism. Crist and Godfrey-Smith also delve into how literature and philosophy can illuminate contemporary ecological challenges, mapping the landscape of environmental discourse and its profound implications for society.

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