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Who’s afraid of realism?

London Review of Books
Realism
Madame Bovary
Mrs Dalloway
Dostoevsky
Gustave Flaubert
Anton Chekhov
The Death Of Ivan Ilyich
Leo Tolstoy
Virginia Woolf
Modernism
Notes From Underground
Rouen, France
London

What’s the difference between realism and the real? James Wood look at novels and short stories from Flaubert and Dostoevsky up to contemporary writers including Amit Chaudhuri and Gwendoline Riley as he examines the uncertain line between artifice and artificiality and the techniques and effects used in fiction to achieve the lifelike. James Wood is a contributor to the London Review of Books, st... more

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Latest Episodes

In August 1923, halfway through writing ‘Mrs Dalloway’, Virginia Woolf recorded a new idea in her diary: she would ‘dig out beautiful caves’ behind her characters, and ‘the caves shall connect, and each comes to daylight at the present moment’. This ... more

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... more

‘Instead of sheets – dirty tablecloths.’ The notebooks of Anton Chekhov are full of enigmatic observations such as this, the unexplained details that suggest a whole scene, short story or character. When asked by an actor how he should play the role ... more

Dostoevsky’s 1864 novella doesn’t contain the descriptive detail, impersonal narration or many other features of 19th-century realism established by Flaubert. The book’s two-part structure, which starts with a 40-year-old’s furious rant against ratio... more

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Recent Guests

Elif Batuman
Novelist and critic
Episode: ‘The Death of Ivan Ilyich’ by Leo Tolstoy
Adam Thirlwell
Novelist and critic
Novelist and critic
Episode: ‘Notes from Underground’ by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Host

James Wood
Host of Close Readings

Chart Rankings

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Apple Podcasts
#111
United Kingdom/Arts/Books
Apple Podcasts
#204
United Kingdom/Arts
Apple Podcasts
#243
Australia/Arts/Books
Apple Podcasts
#41
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Apple Podcasts
#50
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Apple Podcasts
#88
Ukraine/Arts
Apple Podcasts
#94
South Africa/Arts

Talking Points

Recent interactions between the hosts and their guests.

‘Notes from Underground’ by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Q: Adam, what are your, you've read it many times, I know, but what's your, what are your feelings about this book? And perhaps particularly just in this, in relation to what I was just raising, this question of sort of the realism of the thing.
Adam describes the text as not fitting neatly into any traditional definition of realism, highlighting its instability and radical decomposition as its core interest and arguing that the book challenges conventional realism rather than simply representing it.
‘The Death of Ivan Ilyich’ by Leo Tolstoy
Q: How does Tolstoy's life context influence the Death of Ivan Ilyich as a critique of realism?
Elif Batuman explains that Tolstoy's late-life experiences—his crisis, religious turn, and reformist impulses—shape the text so that it uses estrangement and a radical reworking of the realist project to reveal the performativity and vanity of bourgeois life, ultimately making death a moral and philosophical test.

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Frequently Asked Questions About Who’s afraid of realism?

What is Who’s afraid of realism? about and what kind of topics does it cover?

This series offers rigorous, seminar-style close readings of major realist and modernist works, tracing how writers render lifelike detail while probing artifice, perception, and the boundaries between realism and invention. Episodes survey a canon that includes Flaubert, Dostoevsky, Chekhov, Tolstoy, Woolf, and more, while also launching explorations into what realism can mean across time—whether through stylistic innovations like free indirect discourse, or through biographical and historical context. A standout thread is the sustained interrogation of how literary techniques create verisimilitude, sometimes to critique social mores, power structures, or the very definition of “the real.” The host brings a scholarly, theory-informed lens,... more

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1. Close Readings
2. The LRB Podcast
3. London Review Bookshop Podcast
4. Critics at Large | The New Yorker
5. Backlisted

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Who’s afraid of realism? launched 4 months ago and published 8 episodes to date. You can find more information about this podcast including rankings, audience demographics and engagement in our podcast database.

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Recent guests on Who’s afraid of realism? include:

1. Elif Batuman
2. Adam Thirlwell

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