Close Readings

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 Subscribe

In 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/closereadings

RUNNING 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 guests

ALSO 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 Wellesley

Get in touch: [email protected]

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Education Books Arts Courses

Update frequency: every 6 days
Average duration: 19 minutes
Episodes: 165
Years Active: 2022 - 2025

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Introducing 'Conversations in Philosophy'

James Wood and Jonathan Rée introduce their new Close Readings series, Conversations in Philosophy, running throughout 2025. They explain the title of the series and why they'll be challenging a hund…

00:08:35 | Thu 02 Jan 2025

Political Poems: ‘Little Gidding’ by T.S. Eliot

In the final episode of Political Poems, Mark and Seamus discuss ‘Little Gidding’, the fourth poem of T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets. Emerging out of Eliot’s experiences of the Blitz, ‘Little Gidding’ pr…

00:10:51 | Sat 28 Dec 2024

Among the Ancients II: Marcus Aurelius

For their final conversation Among the Ancients, Emily Wilson and Thomas Jones turn to the contradictions of the Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius. Said by Machiavelli to be the las…

00:59:50 | Tue 24 Dec 2024

Medieval LOLs: Gwerful Mechain’s ‘Ode to the Vagina’

For the final episode of their series in search of the medieval sense of humour Irina and Mary look at one of the most remarkable women authors of the Middle Ages, Gwerful Mechain, who lived in Powys…

00:10:45 | Wed 18 Dec 2024

Coming next year on Close Readings

As our Close Readings series come to an end this year, you’re probably wondering what’s coming in 2025. We’re delighted to announce there’ll be four new series starting in January: ‘Conversations in …

00:01:57 | Mon 16 Dec 2024

Human Conditions: ‘Sister Outsider’ by Audre Lorde

In the final episode of Human Conditions, Brent and Adam turn to Audre Lorde’s Sister Outsider, a collection of prose with exceptional relevance to contemporary grassroots politics. Like Du Bois, Cés…

00:13:39 | Tue 10 Dec 2024

On Satire: 'A Far Cry from Kensington' by Muriel Spark

In the final episode of their series, Colin and Clare arrive at Muriel Spark, who would never have considered herself a satirist though her writing was as bitingly satirical as any 20th-century novel…

00:16:29 | Wed 04 Dec 2024

Political Poems: ‘Station Island’ by Seamus Heaney

As an undergraduate, Seamus Heaney visited Station Island several times, an ancient pilgrimage site traditionally associated with St Patrick and purgatory. Decades later, Heaney worked through compet…

00:12:21 | Thu 28 Nov 2024

Among the Ancients II: Apuleius

Apuleius’ ‘Metamorphoses’, better known as ‘The Golden Ass’, is the only ancient Roman novel to have survived in its entirety. Following the story of Lucius, forced to suffer as a donkey until the go…

00:11:12 | Sun 24 Nov 2024

Medieval LOLs: 'Tales of Count Lucanor' by Juan Manuel

If you’re looking for advice on sustaining a marriage, or robbing a grave, or performing liver surgery, then a series of self-help stories by a 14th-century Spanish prince is a good place to start. T…

00:14:12 | Mon 18 Nov 2024

Human Conditions: ‘Black Music’ by Amiri Baraka

In 'Black Music', a collection of essays, liner notes and interviews from 1959 to 1967, Amiri Baraka captures the ferment, energy and excitement of the avant-garde jazz scene. Published while he stil…

00:17:12 | Sun 10 Nov 2024

On Satire: 'A Handful of Dust' by Evelyn Waugh

In 1946 Evelyn Waugh declared that 20th-century society – ‘the century of the common man’, as he put it – was so degenerate that satire was no longer possible. But before reaching that conclusion he …

00:16:08 | Mon 04 Nov 2024

Political Poems: 'The Prelude' (books 9 and 10) by William Wordsworth

Wordsworth was not unusual among Romantic poets for his enthusiastic support of the French Revolution, but he stands apart from his contemporaries for actually being there to see it for himself (‘Tho…

00:11:39 | Mon 28 Oct 2024

Among the Ancients II: Juvenal

In this episode, we tackle Juvenal, whose sixteen satires influenced libertines, neoclassicists and early Christian moralists alike. Conservative to a fault, Juvenal’s Satires rails against the rapid…

00:14:05 | Thu 24 Oct 2024

Medieval LOLs: Boccaccio’s ‘Decameron’, Part Two

Mary and Irina resume their discussion of Boccaccio’s Decameron, focusing on three stories of female agency, deception and desire. Alibech, an aspiring hermitess, is tricked into indulging her powerf…

00:14:44 | Fri 18 Oct 2024

Human Conditions: ‘Discourse on Colonialism’ by Aimé Césaire

Brent Hayes Edwards talks to Adam about Aimé Césaire's 1950 essay Discourse on Colonialism, a groundbreaking work of 20th-century anti-colonial thought and a precursor to the writings of Césaire's pr…

00:13:02 | Thu 10 Oct 2024

On Satire: 'The Importance of Being Earnest' by Oscar Wilde

By the end of 1895 Oscar Wilde’s life was in ruins as he sat in Reading Gaol facing public disgrace, bankruptcy and, two years later, exile. Just ten months earlier the premiere of The Importance of …

00:14:37 | Fri 04 Oct 2024

Political Poems: 'Autumn Journal' by Louis MacNeice

In his long 1938 poem, Louis MacNeice took many of the ideals shared by other young writers of his time – a desire for relevance, responsiveness and, above all, honesty – and applied them in a way th…

00:12:55 | Sat 28 Sep 2024

Among the Ancients II: Tacitus

The Annals, Tacitus’ study of the emperors from Tiberius to Nero, covers some of the most vivid and ruthless episodes in Roman history. A masterclass in political intrigue (and how not to do it), the…

00:12:51 | Tue 24 Sep 2024

Medieval LOLs: Boccaccio's 'Decameron', Part One

In the preface to the Decameron Boccaccio describes Florentine society laid waste by bubonic plague in the mid-14th century. But before he gets to that he has a confession for the reader: he has been…

00:45:47 | Wed 18 Sep 2024

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