The Plot of ‘The Mayor of Casterbridge’

Written for serialisation, ‘The Mayor of Casterbridge’ is full of sudden reversals and shock events, much like an HBO series. It’s hard to summarise Thomas Hardy’s first Wessex novel in ten minutes, but in this extract from Novel Approaches, Mary Wellesley manages to break down its intricate, ‘twisty’ plot. This is an extract from the episode. To listen to the full episode, and to all our other Close Readings series, subscribe: Directly in Apple Podcasts: https://lrb.me/applecryt In other podcast apps: https://lrb.me/closereadingsyt Further reading and listening from the LRB: Mary and Mark discuss Hardy’s medievalism on the LRB Podcast: https://www.lrb.co.uk/podcasts-and-vi... Mark discusses Poems of 1912-13 with Seamus Perry in Love and Death: https://www.lrb.co.uk/podcasts-and-vi... James Wood on Hardy’s life: https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v29/n... Hugh Haughton on Hardy’s ghosts: https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v07/n... Next episode: ‘New Grub Street’ by George Gissing. From the LRB Subscribe to the LRB: ⁠⁠https://lrb.me/pod⁠⁠ Close Readings podcast: ⁠https://lrb.me/crlrbpod⁠ LRB Audiobooks: ⁠https://lrb.me/audiobookslrbpod⁠ Bags, binders and more at the LRB Store: ⁠https://lrb.me/storelrbpod⁠ Get in touch: podcasts@lrb.co.uk #literature #victorianhistory #thomashardy ABOUT CLOSE READINGS Close Readings is a multi-series podcast subscription from the London Review of Books which looks at different periods and themes in literature through selections of key texts, covering poetry, fiction, history and philosophy from Ancient Greece to the present day. Find more episodes here:    • Close Readings   Subscribe: https://lrb.me/closereadingsyt LRB AUDIOBOOKS Discover audiobooks from the LRB, including Bee Wilson on 'Complicated Women' and Jonathan Rée's 'Becoming a Philosopher: Spinoza to Sartre': https://lrb.me/audiobooksna ABOUT THE LRB The LRB is Europe’s leading magazine of books and ideas. Published twice a month, it provides a space for some of the world’s best writers to explore a wide variety of subjects in exhilarating detail – from culture and politics to science and technology via history and philosophy. In the age of the long read, the LRB remains the pre-eminent exponent of the intellectual essay, admired around the world for its fearlessness, its range and its elegance. As well as essays and book reviews each issue also contains poems, an exhibition review, ‘short cuts’, letters and a diary, and is available in print, online, and offline via our app. Subscribers enjoy unlimited access to almost 15,000 articles in our digital archive. Our website features a regular blog and a channel of audio and video content, including podcasts, author interviews and highlights from the events programme at the London Review Bookshop.