Nobody hated better than Alexander Pope. Despite his reputation as the quintessentially refined versifier of the early 18th century, he was also a class A, ultra-pure, surreal, visionary mega-hater, and The Dunciad is his monument to the hate he felt for almost all the other writers of his time. Written over fifteen years of burning fury, Pope’s mock-epic tells the story of the Empire of Dullness and its lineage of terrible writers, the Dunces. Unlike other satires featured in this series so far, it makes no effort to hide the identities of its targets. Clare and Colin provide an ABC for understanding this vast and knotty fulmination, and explore the feverish, backstabbing and politically turbulent world in which it was created.

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Colin Burrow and Clare Bucknell are both fellows of All Souls College, Oxford.

All episodes in the 'On Satire' series:

What is satire?    • On Satire: What is satire?  
John Donne's Satires:    • On Satire: John Donne's Satires  
Ben Jonson's 'Volpone':    • On Satire: Ben Jonson's 'Volpone'  
The Earl of Rochester:    • On Satire: The Earl of Rochester  
John Gay's 'The Beggar's Opera':    • On Satire: John Gay's 'The Beggar's O...  
'The Dunciad' by Alexander Pope:    • On Satire: 'The Dunciad' by Alexander...  
'The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman' by Laurence Sterne:    • On Satire: 'The Life and Opinions of ...  
Jane Austen’s ‘Emma’    • 'Interest' and reading in Jane Austen  

ABOUT CLOSE READINGS

Close Readings is a multi-series podcast subscription from the London Review of Books exploring different periods of literature through a selection of key works. Enjoy an introductory grounding like no other from Europe's leading literary journal: fluent, rigorous, irreverent and never boring.

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Running in 2024:
ON SATIRE with Colin Burrow and Clare Bucknell
HUMAN CONDITIONS with Adam Shatz, Judith Butler, Pankaj Mishra and Brent Hayes Edwards
AMONG THE ANCIENTS II with Emily Wilson and Thomas Jones

Plus two bonus series:
MEDIEVAL LOLS with Irina Dumitrescu and Mary Wellesley
POLITICAL POEMS with Seamus Perry and Mark Ford

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AMONG THE ANCIENTS I with Emily Wilson and Thomas Jones
MEDIEVAL BEGINNINGS with Irina Dumitrescu and Mary Wellesley
THE LONG AND SHORT with Mark Ford and Seamus Perry
MODERN-ISH POETS: SERIES 1 with Mark Ford and Seamus Perry

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