Close Readings

• Fiction and the Fantastic: Stories by Franz Kafka

  In the stories of Franz Kafka we find the fantastical wearing the most ordinary, realist dress. Though haunted by abjection and failure, Kafka has come to embody the power and potential of literary imagination in the 20th century as it confronts the nightmares of modernity. In this episode, Marina Warner is joined by Adam Thirlwell to discuss the ways in which Kafka extended the realist tradition of the European novel by drawing on ‘simple forms’ – proverbs, wisdom literature and animal fables – to push the boundaries of what literature could explore, with reference to stories including ‘The Judgment’, ‘In the Penal Colony’ and ‘A Report to the Academy’.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/applecrffIn other podcast apps: https://lrb.me/closereadingsffFurther reading in the LRB:Franz Kafka (trans. Michael Hofmann): Unknown Lawshttps://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v37/n14/franz-kafka/short-cutsRivka Galchen: What Kind of Funny is He?https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v36/n23/rivka-galchen/what-kind-of-funny-is-heJudith Butler: Who Owns Kafka?https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v33/n05/judith-butler/who-owns-kafkaJ.P. Stern: Bad Faithhttps://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v05/n13/j.p.-stern/bad-faithNext episode: Jan Potocki’s The Manuscript Found at Saragossa and stories by Isak Dinesen.Get the books: https://lrb.me/crbooklist Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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• Conversations in Philosophy: 'My Station and Its Duties' by F.H. Bradley

  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.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/applecrcipIn other podcast apps: https://lrb.me/closereadingscipRead more in the LRB:Frank Kermode on Eliot and Bradley:https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v10/n17/frank-kermode/feast-of-st-thomas Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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• Novel Approaches: 'Vanity Fair' by William Makepeace Thackeray

  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.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/applecrnaIn other podcast apps: https://lrb.me/closereadingsnaRead more in the LRB:John Sutherland on Thackeray:https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v22/n02/john-sutherland/wife-overboardRosemary Hill on 'Frock Consciousness':https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v22/n02/rosemary-hill/frock-consciousness Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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• Love and Death: Elegies for Poets by Berryman, Lowell and Bishop

  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.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/applecrldIn other podcast apps: https://lrb.me/closereadingsldFind further reading in the LRB:Mark Ford: No One Else Can Take a Bath for Youhttps://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v10/n07/mark-ford/no-one-else-can-take-a-bath-for-youKarl Miller: Some Names for Robert Lowellhttps://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v05/n09/karl-miller/some-names-for-robert-lowellNicholas Everett: Two Americas and a Scotlandhttps://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v12/n18/nicholas-everett/two-americas-and-a-scotlandHelen Vendler: The Numinous Moosehttps://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v15/n05/helen-vendler/the-numinous-mooseGet the books: https://lrb.me/crbooklistNext episode: Self-elegies by Hardy, Larkin and Plath. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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• Fiction and the Fantastic: ‘Alice in Wonderland’ by Lewis Carroll

  Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass are strange books, a testament to their author’s defiant unconventionality. Through them, Lewis Carroll transformed popular culture, our everyday idioms and our ideas of childhood and the fantastic, and they remain enormously popular.Anna Della Subin joins Marina Warner to explore the many puzzles of the Alice books. They discuss the way Carroll illuminates other questions raised in this series: of dream states, the nature of consciousness, the transformative power of language and the arbitrariness of authority.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/applecrffIn other podcast apps: https://lrb.me/closereadingsffFurther reading in the LRB:Marina Warner: You Must Not Askhttps://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v18/n01/marina-warner/you-must-not-askDinah Birch: Never Seen A Violethttps://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v23/n17/dinah-birch/never-seen-a-violetMarina Warner: Doubly Damnedhttps://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v29/n03/marina-warner/doubly-damnedGet the books: https://lrb.me/crbooklistNext episode: The stories of Franz Kafka, with Adam Thirlwell.Marina Warner is a writer of history, fiction and criticism whose many books include Stranger Magic, Forms of Enchantment and Once Upon a Time: A Short History of Fairy Tale. She was awarded the Holberg Prize in 2015 and is a contributing editor at the LRB.Anna Della Subin’s study of men who unwittingly became deities, Accidental Gods, was published in 2022. She has been writing for the LRB since 2014. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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