Irina Dumitrescu joins Tom for a Close Readings fusion episode looking at Chaucer’s classical mind, and in particular his use of Ovid’s Heroides in The Legend of Good Women, in which the poet does penance for his poor depictions of women by retelling the stories of Ariadne, Phaedra, Lucrece and others in a more sympathetic light. They discuss Chaucer’s playf ... Show More
Aug 23
Travel with Close Readings: ‘The Portrait of a Lady’ by Henry James
In The Portrait of a Lady, Henry James borrows from Eliot, Austen, folktales and potboilers, but ‘the thing that he took from nowhere was Isabel Archer’. James transformed the 19th-century novel through his evocation of Isabel, a woman who wants and suffers in a profoundly new (a ... Show More
1h 10m
Aug 19
Adam Shatz: Visions of America
‘The very word “America” remains a new, almost completely undefined and extremely controversial proper noun,’ James Baldwin wrote in 1959. ‘No one in the world seems to know exactly what it describes, not even we motley millions who call ourselves Americans.’ Donald Trump’s visio ... Show More
55m 47s
Aug 16
Travel with Close Readings: Byron’s ‘Don Juan’
Few poets have had the courage (or inclination) to rhyme ‘Plato’ with ‘potato’, ‘intellectual’ with ‘hen-peck’d you all’ or ‘Acropolis’ with ‘Constantinople is’. Byron does all of these in Don Juan, his 16,000-line unfinished mock epic that presents itself as a grand satire on hu ... Show More
1h 53m
May 2024
Medieval LOLs: Dame Syrith
As Mary and Irina discussed in the previous episode of Medieval LOLs, fabliaux had an enormous influence on Chaucer, but outside of his work, only one survives in Middle English. Dame Syrith, a story of lust, deception and a mustard-eating dog, is medieval humour at its silliest ... Show More
36m 56s
Oct 2022
When in Rome! The Very Ovidian Witches, Medea & Circe
WITCHES! To accompany the conversation with Antonia Aluko, this week Liv dives in to Ovid's versions of the witches Circe and Medea. Help keep LTAMB going by subscribing to Liv's Patreon for bonus content!CW/TW: far too many Greek myths involve assault. Given it's fiction, and ty ... Show More
43m 21s
Jul 2022
779. [2/2] Poetry Reading: Sir Gawain and The Green Knight (by Simon Armitage)
<p>Luke reads verses from a modernised version of this medieval poem, considered one of the masterpieces of Middle English literature. </p><p>Listen to hear the rhyme and rhythm of the poetry, the descriptive vocabulary and details of the story, with vocabulary explanations and c ... Show More
1h 38m