

Close Readings
London Review of Books
Close Readings is a new multi-series podcast subscription from the London Review of Books. Two contributors explore areas of literature through a selection of key works, providing an introductory grounding like no other. Listen to some episodes for free here, and extracts from our ongoing subscriber-only series.How To SubscribeIn Apple Podcasts, click 'subscribe' at the top of this podcast feed to unlock the full episodes.Or for other podcast apps, sign up here: https://lrb.me/closereadingsRUNNING IN 2025:'Conversations in Philosophy' with Jonathan Rée and James Wood'Fiction and the Fantastic' with Marina Warner, Anna Della Subin, Adam Thirlwell and Chloe Aridjis'Love and Death' with Seamus Perry and Mark Ford'Novel Approaches' with Clare Bucknell, Thomas Jones and other guestsALSO INCLUDED IN THE CLOSE READINGS SUBSCRIPTION:'Among the Ancients' with Emily Wilson and Thomas Jones'Medieval Beginnings' with Irina Dumitrescu and Mary Wellesley'The Long and Short' with Mark Ford and Seamus Perry'Modern-ish Poets: Series 1' with Mark Ford and Seamus Perry'Among the Ancients II' with Emily Wilson and Thomas Jones'On Satire' with Colin Burrow and Clare Bucknell'Human Conditions' with Adam Shatz, Judith Butler, Pankaj Mishra and Brent Hayes Edwards'Political Poems' with Mark Ford and Seamus Perry'Medieval LOLs' with Irina Dumitrescu and Mary WellesleyGet in touch: podcasts@lrb.co.ukHosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Aug 31, 2025 • 13min
Love and Death: ‘Poems 1912-13’ by Thomas Hardy
Without Emma Gifford, we might never have heard of Thomas Hardy. Hardy’s first wife was instrumental in his decision to abandon architecture for a writing career, and a direct influence – possibly collaborator – on his early novels. Their marriage, initially passionate, defied family expectations and class barriers, but by the time of Emma’s death, it had deteriorated into hostility and bitterness. Out of grief, regret and ambivalence, Hardy produced the work Mark Ford considers to be among ‘the greatest poems in any language’: Poems 1912-13.
Mark and Seamus discuss the collection in the light of what Hardy called ‘strange necromancy’: the reconfiguring of Emma as ghost, critic, corpse and mythic lover. They pay close attention to the tight structure and novelistic detail in these poems, which exemplify Hardy’s gift for mixing the lyrical with realism.
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
Read the poems:
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2863/2863-h/2863-h.htm
Further reading and listening from the LRB:
On Mark’s book, Woman Much Missed:
https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/n19/matthew-bevis/i-prefer-my-mare
Hugh Haughton on Hardy’s ghosts and Emma’s diary:
https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v07/n21/hugh-haughton/ghosts
Dinah Birch on the letters of the two Mrs Hardies:
https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v18/n22/dinah-birch/defence-of-the-housefly
Mark and Seamus on Hardy for Modern-ish Poets:
https://www.lrb.co.uk/podcasts-and-videos/podcasts/close-readings/modern-ish-poets-thomas-hardy
Mark and Mary Wellesley discuss A Pair of Blue Eyes:
https://www.lrb.co.uk/podcasts-and-videos/podcasts/the-lrb-podcast/thomas-hardy-s-medieval-mind

Aug 24, 2025 • 13min
Fiction and the Fantastic: Stories by Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Luis Borges was a librarian with rock star status, a stimulus for magical realism who was not a magical realist, and a wholly original writer who catalogued and defined his own precursors. It’s fitting that he was fascinated by paradoxes, and his most famous stories are fantasias on themes at the heart of this series: dreams, mirrors, recursion, labyrinths, language and creation.
Marina and Chloe explore Borges’s fiction with particular focus on two stories: ‘The Circular Ruins’ and ‘The Aleph’. They discuss the many contradictions and puzzles in his life and work, and the ways in which he transformed the writing of his contemporaries, successors and distant ancestors.
Non-subscribers will only hear an extract from this episode. To listen to the full episode, and all our other Close Readings series, subscribe:
Directly in Apple Podcasts: https://lrb.me/applecrff
In other podcast apps: https://lrb.me/closereadingsff
Further reading in the LRB:
Michael Wood on Borges’s collected fiction:
https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v21/n03/michael-wood/productive-mischief
Colm Toíbìn on Borges’s life:
https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v28/n09/colm-toibin/don-t-abandon-me
Marina Warner on enigmas and riddles:
https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v29/n03/marina-warner/doubly-damned
Daniel Wassbeim on Sur and Borges’s circle:
https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v10/n05/daniel-waissbein/dying-for-madame-ocampo
Next episode: Marina and Chloe discuss The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington.

Aug 17, 2025 • 15min
Conversations in Philosophy: 'Sketch for a Theory of the Emotions' by Jean-Paul Sartre
Dive into Sartre's intriguing take on emotions as actions of consciousness, rather than mere reactions. The discussion highlights his challenge to Freud's theories and explores the concept of self-invention within existentialism. The speakers also unpack the interplay of freedom, identity, and narrative in literature, revealing how emotive experiences shape our perceptions. With a twist on traditional psychology, they argue for conscious responsibility in our emotional responses, making you rethink how you engage with your feelings.

Aug 11, 2025 • 17min
Novel Approaches: 'Our Mutual Friend' by Charles Dickens
Tom Crewe, a contributing editor at the LRB and author of the Orwell Prize-winning novel 'The New Life', joins the discussion on Dickens's last completed work, 'Our Mutual Friend'. They explore its compelling opening, where a body is dredged from the Thames, and delve into themes of identity and societal absurdities. The conversation highlights how Dickens's personal struggles and criticisms colored his prose, creating a rich tapestry that reflects the complexities of mid-Victorian Britain. The shifting perspectives in the novel also hint at the emerging cynicism of the late century.

Aug 3, 2025 • 14min
Love and Death: Family Elegies by Wordsworth, Lowell, Riley and Carson
Delve into the poignant exploration of family elegies spanning from Wordsworth to Carson. Discover how Wordsworth's nuanced tribute to his brother grapples with grief, contrasting with Denise Riley's innovative approach to mourning. Uncover Lowell's candid vignettes that reject typical elegiac conventions. Finally, Anne Carson challenges narrative coherence, weaving together fragments to capture the essence of loss. This thought-provoking discussion reveals how different poets confront the complexities of love and death.

18 snips
Jul 28, 2025 • 33min
Fiction and the Fantastic: ‘Frankenstein’ by Mary Shelley
Adam Thirlwell, a talented writer and cultural critic, dives deep into Mary Shelley's groundbreaking novel, examining its themes of birth, death, and monstrosity. The conversation highlights the emotional complexities of the creature and his creator, revealing how their fates intertwine. Thirlwell discusses the philosophical implications of creation and the limits of scientific ambition. Through the lens of rejection and longing, he explores the societal prejudices faced by the creature, ultimately showcasing the timeless relevance of Shelley's work.

Jul 21, 2025 • 16min
Conversations in Philosophy: 'The Thing' by Martin Heidegger
Dive deep into Martin Heidegger's exploration of what it means for a jug to truly be a jug. The conversation highlights the essence of ‘thingness’ and how it goes beyond mere objectification. Discover the interplay between technology and authentic human experience, as well as the philosophical implications of Heidegger's poetic style. Engage with thought-provoking themes that challenge traditional perceptions of existence, all while reconsidering the dynamic relationship between revelation and concealment.

Jul 14, 2025 • 17min
Novel Approaches: ‘The Mill on the Floss’ by George Eliot
The Mill on the Floss is George Eliot’s most autobiographical novel, and the first she published after her identity as a woman was revealed. A ‘dreamscape’ version of her Warwickshire childhood, the book is both a working-through and a reimagining of her life.
Ruth Yeazell and Deborah Friedell join Tom to discuss the novel and its protagonist Maggie Tullliver, for whom duty – societal, familial, self-imposed – continually conflicts with her personal desires. They explore the book’s submerged sexuality, its questioning of conventional gender roles, and the way Eliot’s satirical impulse is counterbalanced by the complexity of her characters.
Non-subscribers will only hear an extract from this episode. To listen to the full episode, and all our other Close Readings series, subscribe:
Directly in Apple Podcasts: https://lrb.me/applecrna
In other podcast apps: https://lrb.me/closereadingsna
Further reading in the LRB:
Rachel Bowlby on reading George Eliot: https://lrb.me/naeliot1
Dinah Birch on Eliot’s journals: https://lrb.me/naeliot2
Rosemary Ashton on Eliot and sex: https://lrb.me/naeliot3
Gordon Haight’s speech on Eliot at Westminster Abbey: https://lrb.me/naeliot4
Audiobooks from the LRB:
https://lrb.me/audiobooksna

Jul 7, 2025 • 12min
Love and Death: War Elegies by Whitman, Owen, Douglas and more
As long as there have been poets, they have been writing war elegies. In this episode, Mark and Seamus discuss responses to the American Civil War (Walt Whitman), both world wars (W.B. Yeats, Wilfred Owen, Rudyard Kipling, Keith Douglas) and the conflict in Northern Ireland (Michael Longley) to explore the way these very different poems share an ancient legacy. Spanning 160 years and energised by competing ideas of art and war, these soldiers, carers and civilians are united by a need that Mark and Seamus suggest is at the root of poetry, to memorialise the dead in words.
Non-subscribers will only hear an extract from this episode. To listen to the full episode, and all our other Close Readings series, subscribe:
Directly in Apple Podcasts: https://lrb.me/applecrld
In other podcast apps: https://lrb.me/closereadingsld
Poems discussed in this episode:
Walt Whitman, ‘Vigil Strange I Kept on the Field One Night’
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45478/vigil-strange-i-kept-on-the-field-one-night
Wilfred Owen, ‘Futility’
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/57283/futility-56d23aa2d4b57
Keith Douglas, ‘Vergissmeinnicht’
https://warpoets.org.uk/worldwar2/poem/vergissmeinnicht/
W.B. Yeats, ‘An Irish Airman foresees his Death’
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/57311/an-irish-airman-foresees-his-death
Michael Longley, ‘The Ice-Cream Man’
https://poetryarchive.org/poem/ice-cream-man/
Rudyard Kipling, ‘Epitaphs of the War’
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/57409/epitaphs-of-the-war
Further reading in the LRB:
Ian Hamilton on Keith Douglas’s letters:
https://lrb.me/ldwar1
Jonathan Bate on war poetry:
https://lrb.me/ldwar2
Poems by Michael Longley published in the LRB:
https://lrb.me/ldwar3
LRB Audiobooks
Discover audiobooks from the LRB: https://lrb.me/audiobooksld

Jul 2, 2025 • 32min
Fiction and the Fantastic: Mikhail Bulgakov and James Hogg
Adam Thirlwell, a novelist and critic celebrated for his exploration of the fantastic, dives into the eerie worlds of James Hogg and Mikhail Bulgakov. He discusses Hogg’s 'The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner', highlighting its unique narrative and themes of evil. Thirlwell also unpacks Bulgakov’s 'The Master and Margarita', examining its devilish chaos in Moscow and the blending of romanticism with modern existential questions. The conversation illuminates how both writers wield the fantastical to confront the nature of identity, fanaticism, and moral complexities.