EPISODE · Dec 31, 2025 · 1H 4M
The Man Behind the Curtain: ‘Don Quixote’ by Miguel de Cervantes
from Close Readings · host London Review of Books
In The Man Behind the Curtain, a bonus Close Readings series for 2026, Tom McCarthy and Thomas Jones examine great novels in terms of the systems and infrastructures at work in them. For their first episode, they turn to the book that invented the modern novel. Don Quixote, the ingenious man from La Mancha, is thought to be mad by everyone he meets because he believes he’s living in a book. But from a certain point of view that makes the hero of Cervantes’ novel the only character who has any idea what’s really going on. Tom and Tom discuss the machinery – narrative, theoretical, economic, psychological and literal (those windmills) – which underpins Cervantes’ masterpiece. This is a bonus episode from the Close Readings series. To listen to all our other Close Readings series, sign up: Directly in Apple Podcasts: https://lrb.me/applecrna In other podcast apps: https://lrb.me/closereadingsna Further reading in the LRB: Karl Miller on ‘Don Quixote’: https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v08/n03/karl-miller/andante-capriccioso Michael Wood: Crazy Don https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v17/n15/michael-wood/crazy-don Gabriel Josipovici on Cervantes’ life: https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v01/n05/gabriel-josipovici/the-hard-life-and-poor-best-of-cervantes Robin Chapman: Cervantics https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v08/n16/robin-chapman/cervantics Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
What this episode covers
In The Man Behind the Curtain, a bonus Close Readings series for 2026, Tom McCarthy and Thomas Jones examine great novels in terms of the systems and infrastructures at work in them. For their first episode, they turn to the book that invented the modern novel. Don Quixote, the ingenious man from La Mancha, is thought to be mad by everyone he meets because he believes he’s living in a book. But from a certain point of view that makes the hero of Cervantes’ novel the only character who has any idea what’s really going on. Tom and Tom discuss the machinery – narrative, theoretical, economic, psychological and literal (those windmills) – which underpins Cervantes’ masterpiece. This is a bonus episode from the Close Readings series. To listen to all our other Close Readings series, sign up: Directly in Apple Podcasts: https://lrb.me/applecrna In other podcast apps: https://lrb.me/closereadingsna Further reading in the LRB: Karl Miller on ‘Don Quixote’: https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v08/n03/karl-miller/andante-capriccioso Michael Wood: Crazy Don https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v17/n15/michael-wood/crazy-don Gabriel Josipovici on Cervantes’ life: https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v01/n05/gabriel-josipovici/the-hard-life-and-poor-best-of-cervantes Robin Chapman: Cervantics https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v08/n16/robin-chapman/cervantics Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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The Man Behind the Curtain: ‘Don Quixote’ by Miguel de Cervantes
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