Irina and Mary jump to the 14th century for an introspective Arthurian romance about a knight trying to live up to his perfect reputation. The mysterious and intricate Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is perhaps best understood as a series of games within games, in which our hero, a recurring character throughout medieval literature, is never sure what adventure he’s playing. Non-subscribers will only hear an extract from this episode. To listen in full and to our other Close Readings series, sign up here: Directly in Apple Podcasts at the top of this feed, or here: https://apple.co/3pJoFPq In other podcast apps: lrb.me/closereadings Read more in the LRB:  Mary Wellesley: https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v40/n08/mary-wellesley/diary Frank Kermode: https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v29/n05/frank-kermode/who-has-the-gall Irina Dumitrescu is Professor of English Medieval Studies at the University of Bonn and Mary Wellesley as a historian and author of Hidden Hands: The Lives of Manuscripts and their Makers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.