by London Review of Books
<p>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.</p><br><p><u>How To Subscribe</u></p><p>In Apple Podcasts, click 'subscribe' at the top of this podcast feed to unlock the full episodes.</p><p>Or for other podcast apps, sign up here: <a href="https://lrb.me/closereadings" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://lrb.me/closereadings</a></p><br><p>RUNNING IN 2025:</p><br><p>'Conversations in Philosophy' with Jonathan Rée and James Wood</p><p>'Fiction and the Fantastic' with Marina Warner, Anna Della Subin, Adam Thirlwell and Chloe Aridjis</p><p>'Love and Death' with Seamus Perry and Mark Ford</p><p>'Novel Approaches' with Clare Bucknell, Thomas Jones and other guests</p><br><p>ALSO INCLUDED IN THE CLOSE READINGS SUBSCRIPTION:</p><br><p>'Among the Ancients' with Emily Wilson and Thomas Jones</p><p>'Medieval Beginnings' with Irina Dumitrescu and Mary Wellesley</p><p>'The Long and Short' with Mark Ford and Seamus Perry</p><p>'Modern-ish Poets: Series 1' with Mark Ford and Seamus Perry</p><p>'Among the Ancients II' with Emily Wilson and Thomas Jones</p><p>'On Satire' with Colin Burrow and Clare Bucknell</p><p>'Human Conditions' with Adam Shatz, Judith Butler, Pankaj Mishra and Brent Hayes Edwards</p><p>'Political Poems' with Mark Ford and Seamus Perry</p><p>'Medieval LOLs' with Irina Dumitrescu and Mary Wellesley</p><br><p>Get in touch: [email protected]</p><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>
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April 28, 2025
<p>T.S. Eliot claimed that he learned his prose style from reading F.H. Bradley, and the poet wrote his PhD on the English philosopher at Harvard. Bradley’s life was remarkably unremarkable, as he spent his entire career as a fellow of Merton College, Oxford, where his only obligation was not to get married. Yet in over fifty years of slow, meticulous writing he articulated a series of unusual and arresting ideas that attacked Kantian and utilitarian notions of duty and morality. In this episode, Jonathan and James look at Bradley’s polemic against John Stuart Mill, ‘My Station and Its Duties’, and other essays in Ethical Studies, which challenge the idea of morality as a product of calm reasoning arrived at by mature, rational minds. For Bradley, morality is a characteristic of communities, determined by people’s differing needs at various stages in their lives, and the universal need for self-realisation can only be achieved through those communities.</p><br><p>Non-subscribers will only hear an extract from this episode. To listen to the full episode, and all our other Close Readings series, subscribe:</p><br><p>Directly in Apple Podcasts: <a href="https://lrb.me/applecrcip" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://lrb.me/applecrcip</a></p><p>In other podcast apps: <a href="https://lrb.me/closereadingscip" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://lrb.me/closereadingscip</a></p><br><p>Read more in the LRB:</p><br><p>Frank Kermode on Eliot and Bradley:</p><p>https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v10/n17/frank-kermode/feast-of-st-thomas</p><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>
April 21, 2025
<p>Thackeray's comic masterpiece, Vanity Fair, is a Victorian novel looking back to Regency England as an object both of satire and nostalgia. Thackeray’s disdain for the Regency is present throughout the book, not least in the proliferation of hapless characters called George, yet he also draws heavily on his childhood experiences to unfold a complex story of fractured families, bad marriages and the tyranny of debt. In this episode, Colin Burrow and Rosemary Hill join Tom to discuss Thackeray’s use of clothes, curry and the rapidly changing topography of London to construct a turbulent society full of peril and opportunity for his heroine, Becky Sharp, and consider why the Battle of Waterloo was such a recurrent preoccupation in literature of the period.</p><br><p>Non-subscribers will only hear an extract from this episode. To listen to the full episode, and all our other Close Readings series, subscribe:</p><br><p>Directly in Apple Podcasts: <a href="https://lrb.me/applecrna" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://lrb.me/applecrna</a></p><p>In other podcast apps: <a href="https://lrb.me/closereadingsna" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://lrb.me/closereadingsna</a></p><br><p>Read more in the LRB:</p><br><p>John Sutherland on Thackeray:</p><p><a href="https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v22/n02/john-sutherland/wife-overboard" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v22/n02/john-sutherland/wife-overboard</a></p><br><p>Rosemary Hill on 'Frock Consciousness':</p><p><a href="https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v22/n02/rosemary-hill/frock-consciousness" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v22/n02/rosemary-hill/frock-consciousness</a></p><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>
April 14, 2025
<p>The confessional poets of the mid-20th century considered themselves a ‘doomed’ generation, with a cohesive identity and destiny. Their intertwining personal lives were laid bare in their work, and Robert Lowell, John Berryman and Elizabeth Bishop returned repeatedly to the elegy to commemorate old friends and settle old scores.In this episode, Mark and Seamus turn to elegies for poets by poets, tracing the intricate connections between them. Lowell, Berryman and Bishop’s work was offset by a deep commitment to the literary tradition, and Mark and Seamus identify their shared influences and anxieties.</p><br><p>Non-subscribers will only hear an extract from this episode. To listen to the full episode, and all our other Close Readings series, subscribe:</p><br><p>Directly in Apple Podcasts: <a href="https://lrb.me/applecrld" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://lrb.me/applecrld</a></p><p>In other podcast apps: <a href="https://lrb.me/closereadingsld" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://lrb.me/closereadingsld</a></p><br><p>Find further reading in the LRB:</p><br><p>Mark Ford: No One Else Can Take a Bath for You</p><p><a href="https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v10/n07/mark-ford/no-one-else-can-take-a-bath-for-you" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v10/n07/mark-ford/no-one-else-can-take-a-bath-for-you</a></p><br><p>Karl Miller: Some Names for Robert Lowell</p><p><a href="https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v05/n09/karl-miller/some-names-for-robert-lowell" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v05/n09/karl-miller/some-names-for-robert-lowell</a></p><br><p>Nicholas Everett: Two Americas and a Scotland</p><p><a href="https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v12/n18/nicholas-everett/two-americas-and-a-scotland" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v12/n18/nicholas-everett/two-americas-and-a-scotland</a></p><br><p>Helen Vendler: The Numinous Moose</p><p><a href="https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v15/n05/helen-vendler/the-numinous-moose" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v15/n05/helen-vendler/the-numinous-moose</a></p><br><p>Get the books: <a href="https://lrb.me/crbooklist" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://lrb.me/crbooklist</a></p><br><p>Next episode: Self-elegies by Hardy, Larkin and Plath.</p><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>
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The Paris Review
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The Spectator
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