Close Readings

London Review of Books

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May 13, 2026 • 22min

Narrative Poems: ‘Tam o’ Shanter’ by Robert Burns and ‘Peter Grimes’ by George Crabbe

Andrew O’Hagan, writer and reader, performs extracts from Robert Burns’s Tam o’ Shanter and discusses its roistering Scots voice. Short scenes of storm, witches and moral ambiguity get lively readings. The conversation also contrasts Burns’s mock‑epic tone with George Crabbe’s darker narrative about a brutal fisherman, highlighting realism and psychological intensity.
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May 4, 2026 • 29min

Nature in Crisis: 'Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth' by James Lovelock

In ‘Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth’ (1979), James Lovelock proposed that the Earth is something like a single living organism, capable of manipulating its circumstances and the environment to suit its needs. While many scientists reject the fullest formulation of this idea, it has nonetheless had a profound influence on our understanding of the ways in which animal and plant life interact with the non-living parts of the environment, to the extent that observations in biological and earth systems science are often assessed for which version of Gaia they might support. In this episode, Meehan Crist and Peter Godfrey-Smith look at the origins of the Gaia hypothesis in the radical work of Lynn Margulis and the contributions of Lovelock’s academic collaborator Dian Hitchcock, and in the science of cybernetics. They then consider the degree to which any formulation of Gaia can explain certain processes, from the impact of the ecological competition between daisies on the reflection of solar radiation to the carbon-silicate cycle and its control of carbon dioxide levels, and consider some of Lovelock’s wilder theories, including his suggestion that humans should merge their minds with those of whales. 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/applecrna⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ture⁠⁠ In other podcast apps: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://lrb.me/closereadingsna⁠⁠⁠ture Read more in the LRB: Meehan Crist on ‘Novocene’: https://lrb.me/natureep501 Peter Godfrey-Smith on Lovelock: https://lrb.me/natureep502
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Apr 27, 2026 • 23min

Who’s afraid of realism? ‘The Death of Ivan Ilyich’ by Leo Tolstoy

In the late 1870s, shortly after the publication of Anna Karenina, Tolstoy experienced what might be described today as a midlife crisis. In his short autobiographical book A Confession, finished in 1880, he questioned what meaning there is in life that is not annihilated by the inevitability of death. His answer was to live according to God’s law, a realisation that shaped that rest of his life and writing, and guides the story of his late masterpiece, The Death of Ivan Ilyich (1886). To discuss The Death of Ivan Ilyich and its place both in Tolstoy’s work and the development of realism, James is joined by the novelist Elif Batuman. They consider the way Tolstoy takes up Flaubert’s contempt for bourgeois life and strips it down to a spare fable of delusion and awakening, and why the unique authority of his style has proved so resistant to the critiques of realism in the 20th century. Non-subscribers will only hear an extract from the episode. To listen in full, and to all our other Close Readings series, sign up: Apple Podcasts: https://lrb.me/applecrwaor Other podcast apps: https://lrb.me/closereadingswaor Read more in the LRB: Michael Wood on War and Peace: https://lrb.me/realismep501 James Meek on the death of Tolstoy: https://lrb.me/realismep502 John Bayley on Tolstoy's diaries: https://lrb.me/realismep503
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Apr 24, 2026 • 35min

The Man Behind the Curtain: ‘Frankenstein’ by Mary Shelley

Mary Shelley signed off her introduction to the 1831 edition of Frankenstein by bidding her ‘hideous progeny go forth and prosper’. In this episode of The Man Behind the Curtain, Tom McCarthy and Thomas Jones look at the machinery that Shelley used to assemble her immortal creature and bring it to life. As well as its origins and afterlives, they consider the many systems that the novel draws on, challenges, reproduces and mutates – the laws of nature, philosophy, science, the human body, the traditional family – and ask whether the real horror at the heart of Frankenstein is not the creature so much as incest. The Man Behind the Curtain is a bonus Close Readings series running this year. The next episode will be on ‘Middlemarch’, released in a couple of months. This is an extract from the episode. To listen in full, and to all our other Close Readings series, sign up: Directly in Apple Podcasts: https://lrb.me/closereadingsmbtc For Spotify and other apps: https://lrb.me/applecrmbtc Read more in the LRB: Anne Barton on Mary Shelley: ⁠https://lrb.me/frankensteincr01⁠ Caroline Gonda on the original Frankenstein: ⁠https://lrb.me/frankensteincr02
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Apr 20, 2026 • 28min

London Revisited: Plague, Rebellion and Guilds

Medieval London’s explosion of record-keeping and municipal bureaucracy comes to life. The rise and power of guilds and specialized trades shape urban work and charity. The Black Death’s devastation and subsequent social upheavals reshape the city. Revolts, expulsions and the arrival of Italian financiers reveal dramatic political and economic change.
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Apr 13, 2026 • 15min

Narrative Poems: ‘The Rape of the Lock’ by Alexander Pope

Mark Ford, poet, critic and UCL professor, offers close readings of Alexander Pope. He unpacks Pope's dazzling wit and heroic couplets. He explores the mock-epic form, the songlike precision of the verse, and how lofty style meets a trivial social quarrel. Short, sharp observations on satire, craft and the poem’s mingling of comedy and seriousness.
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Apr 6, 2026 • 13min

Nature in Crisis: ‘The Burning Earth’ by Sunil Amrith

A wide-ranging conversation traces five centuries of human activity to map how environmental breakdown unfolded. They explore the ‘great acceleration’ after the 1950s and debates over when the Anthropocene begins. The discussion examines shifting ideas of freedom and their role in exploiting nature, and revisits postwar environmental thought through key intellectual figures.
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12 snips
Mar 30, 2026 • 24min

Who’s afraid of realism? Three stories by Anton Chekhov

A close look at Chekhov’s knack for telling, enigmatic details and how tiny observations shape whole scenes. Discussions compare his empathetic realism with Flaubert’s irony. The conversation traces Chekhov’s life—from medical training and Sakhalin to tuberculosis and Yalta—and connects personal history to three stories that resist easy judgment.
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Mar 23, 2026 • 24min

London Revisited: The Medieval Capital

Matthew Davies, professor of medieval urban history at Birkbeck, sketches London’s rise from post‑Roman ruins to a bustling medieval capital. He explores early Christian foundations, the rediscovery of Lundenwic and river trade, Viking impacts, Alfred’s refortification and the shifting royal and civic roles that shaped the city’s growth.
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8 snips
Mar 16, 2026 • 16min

Narrative Poems: ‘Paradise Lost’ (Book 9) by John Milton

A deep dive into Milton’s blend of genres as he stages the fall of Adam and Eve. They trace shifts from pastoral to Shakespearean tragedy and explore Satan’s ambiguous, seductive rhetoric. The conversation highlights Milton’s reinvention of epic heroism, his playful use of motifs like taste, and the poem’s lasting influence on Romantic and Gothic imagery.

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