A joyful and enlightening masterclass in how reading attentively can change our lives
As an English literature professor, Robert Douglas-Fairhurst has delighted in sharing his love of reading with his students. Bringing together more than twenty years of teaching, Look Closer explores the iconic works of literature that have formed, sustained and entertained him, from timeless classics like Wuthering Heights and Pride and Prejudice to modern masterpieces such as Normal People and The Handmaid’s Tale, as well as children’s books, poetry, plays, short stories and comics. It is a masterclass in how to be human.
By revealing the simple techniques to slow down, take note and bring a text to life, Look Closer is the culmination of a life spent reading. This book is for anyone interested in how literature works and makes clear why reading is more relevant than ever in these turbulent times. Funny, illuminating and personal, Look Closer ultimately shows us how great writing can change a person’s life. It is a celebration of the simple joy of reading, and how becoming more attentive readers can open up worlds and bring us closer to ourselves in delightful and unexpected ways.
About the Author
Robert Douglas-Fairhurst is a Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Magdalen College. His books include Becoming Dickens, which won the Duff Cooper Prize, The Story of Alice, which was shortlisted for the Costa Biography Award, and Metamorphosis. He writes regularly for publications including The Times, the Literary Review and the Spectator.
Radio and television appearances include Start the Week and The Culture Show and he has also acted as the historical consultant on TV adaptations of Jane Eyre, Emma, Great Expectations, the BBC drama series Dickensian and both of the Enola Holmes feature films for Netflix. He has judged the Booker Prize and the Baillie Gifford Prize, and in 2015 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Industry Reviews
A glittering gem of a book. This is a prism through which other books can be read more sharply, more meaningfully. I will be buying it for everyone I know who loves books
Natalie Haynes
Absorbing, inspiring, open-hearted and welcoming, Look Closer is the best book about reading I have read for a very, very long time. Brilliantly clever without being even remotely academical or scholarly in its manner, this funny, warm and all-embracing book is for anyone and everyone
Stephen Fry
Look Closer . . . might be the book finally to get someone young (or old) off their smartphone. It digs away at literary classics of all sorts to find out why and how they work
Oldie, *Christmas Gift Guide 2025*
Reading Look Closer is akin to wandering through an art gallery with an expert on painterly detail by your side: you see familiar shapes afresh and are introduced to new artists along the way
Financial Times
A welcome intervention in the alarming decline of literacy . . . Douglas-Fairhurst is like that one teacher we had at school who, despite the years, was still hopelessly in love with their subject
The Spectator
Look Closer is a masterclass in how to make academic writing fun, stuffed with erudite anecdotes about authors whom we rarely think of as three-dimensional characters… A must read
Country Life
I can’t recall reading a book that made me so immediately want to dive straight into a library… This is a wonderful book, packed with detail and knowledge but also intuition, warmth and infectious enthusiasm
Literary Review
Look Closer is a love letter to the energising thrill of literature, and the bracing challenge of it too
Sunday Times
A delightful and much needed paean, in our attention-deficit era, to the pleasures of close and slow reading
Spectator, *Books of the Year*
A lively book that seeks to enthuse us to read more deeply, more thoughtfully
The Times, *Books of the Year*
A work of contemporary criticism few academics could rival
Country Life, *Books of the Year*
