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From " Everyday Politics in Russia ", The Eurasian Knot 4/6/2026:

The podcast starts with a message from listener Amanda, who has been reading all of Dostoevsky for a workshop in Russia. In addressing the podcast's host Sean Guillory, she says (starting at 4:21.5):

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I sympathize with you, Sean, that you just couldn't get into him,

but I've personally never felt that way about Dostoevsky.

I remember trying to read the Lord of the Rings series,

and I couldn't stand it.

I couldn't stand ten pages describing a meadow.

And ever since them I've thought of fiction writing in terms of

meadow-writing and non-meadow-writing.

No wonder I love Dostoevsky —

he has nothing whatsoever to say about meadows.

"Meadow-writing" is a strikingly evocative name for a stylistic category, but I'm puzzled about its concrete reference .…