The History of Literature
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The History of Literature
Amateur enthusiast Jacke Wilson journeys through the history of literature, from ancient epics to contemporary classics. Episodes are not in chronological order and you don't need to start at the beginning - feel free to jump in wherever you like! Find out more at historyofliterature.com and faceboo...
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705 എപ്പിസോഡുകൾ
740 Mel Brooks and Other Eminent Jews (with David Denby) | War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (#13 GBOAT)
In this episode, Jacke talks to author David Denby about his new book, Eminent Jews: Bernstein, Brooks, Friedan, Mailer, a group biography (loosely in...
739 Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (#14 GBOAT) | Johannes Gutenberg (with Eric Marshall White)
Thanks to his invention of Europe's first typographic printing method, and his pioneering work on the first printed Bible, the fifteenth-century Germa...
738 Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (#15 Greatest Book of All Time)
Emily Brontë only published one full-length book before dying at the tragically young age of 30. But that book, Wuthering Heights, which tells the sto...
737 "The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs
It's October! Jacke kicks off his favorite month with a classic tale of horror, "The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs. Perhaps you know the general contou...
736 Jane Austen's Favorite Brother, Henry (with Christopher Herbert) | A Letter from the South of France | My Last Book with Nicholas Jenkins
Jane Austen had six brothers, but her older brother Henry was her favorite. Kind and witty, Henry has long been appreciated by Austen fans for his dev...
735 Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf (with Mark Hussey) | My Last Book with Graham Watson
Jacke talks to author Mark Hussey (Mrs Dalloway: Biography of a Novel) about Virginia Woolf's beloved novel Mrs Dalloway, which turned 100 earlier thi...
734 The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien (#16 GBOAT) | 1925 - A Literary Encyclopedia (with Tom Lutz)
Jacke talks to author Tom Lutz about 1925: A Literary Encyclopedia, which provides a fascinating window into a year when literature was arguably at it...
733 Haruki Murakami (with Mike Palindrome | To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (#17 GBOAT) | A Letter from Tehran
Haruki Murakami (b. 1949) is one of the rare writers who combines literary admiration with widespread appeal. Host Jacke Wilson is joined by lifelong...
732 The Bible (#18 GBOAT) | The Diaries of Samuel Pepys (with Kate Loveman) | Health Advice
Jacke starts the episode by looking at the different ways that ten writers have viewed the Bible, #18 on the list of the Greatest Books of All Time. T...
731 The Brothers Karamazov Reclaimed (#19 Greatest Book of All Time)
Responding to a special request from a listener, Jacke discusses Fyodor Dostoevsky, his novel The Brothers Karamazov, and the search for meaning in a...
730 "To Autumn" by John Keats | The Invention of Charlotte Brontë (with Graham Watson) | My Last Book with Sara Charles
Jacke looks forward to a new season by exploring the language and imagery of John Keats's famous ode to autumn. Then he talks to Graham Watson about h...
729 Milton the Revolutionary (with Orlando Reade) | My Last Book with Jodi Picoult | More Exciting News
Since the publication of John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost in 1667, readers and critics have noted the relationship between the poem and the autho...
728 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (#20 GBOAT) | Lorraine Hansberry - RECLAIMED
As part of the "25 for '25" series, Jacke starts the episode with a look at #20 on the list of Greatest Books of All Time, The Adventures of Huckleber...
727 Earthly Paradise in Old French Verse (with Jacob Abell) | My Last Book with Victorian Literature Expert Allen MacDuffie | A Dueling Neapolitan Passionate for Poetry
What happened to Eden? While today we might view the story of Adam and Eve as metaphorical, for many generations of Christians, the Earthly Paradise w...
726 England vs France - A Literary Battle Royale (with Mike Palindrome) - RECLAIMED
“Our dear enemies,” a French writer once called the English. Englishman John Cleese called the French “our natural enemies” and joked “if we have to f...
725 The Trial by Franz Kafka (#21 GBOAT) | Edith Wharton and Patrick O'Brian (with Olivia Wolfgang-Smith) | An Uplifting Story
Jacke starts the episode with an uplifting story, then submerges himself into chaos and absurdity for a look at The Trial by Franz Kafka, which lands...
724 The Stranger by Albert Camus (#22 Greatest Book of All Time) | Christopher Isherwood (with Jake Poller) | Postcard from a Listener in Yunnan
Put on your black turtleneck! Jacke starts the episode with a look at #22 on the list of The Greatest Books of All Time, The Stranger by Albert Camus....
723 The Moral Rights of Authors (with Mira T Sundara Rajan) | My Last Book with Radha Vatsal
As technology advances, the ability of authors and artists to prevent their works from being pirated or misused has become urgent. In this episode, Ja...
722 Kerouac's Road - A Conversation with Ebs Burnough, Director of a New Kerouac Documentary | My Last Book with Beat Generation Expert Steven Belletto
Since its publication in 1957, Jack Kerouac's iconic novel On the Road has inspired millions to head for the highways and live life to its fullest. In...
721 Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert (The #23 Greatest Book of All Time)
Jacke continues his journey through the list of the 25 Greatest Books of All Time with a look at Flaubert's "perfect novel," Madame Bovary (1856-57)....
720 The 25 Greatest Books of All Time - #24 "The Odyssey" by Homer | The Conclusion to F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Diamond as Big as the Ritz" (with Mike Palindrome)
Jacke continues his analysis of "The 25 Greatest Books of All Time" by a special look at Homer's Odyssey. Then Mike Palindrome, the president of the L...
719 "The Diamond as Big as the Ritz" by F Scott Fitzgerald (with Mike Palindrome) | 25 for 25 - #25 The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
In June of 1922, the twenty-five-year-old wunderkind F. Scott Fitzgerald published "The Diamond as Big as the Ritz," an incredible story of fabulously...
718 Jim - The Life and Afterlives of Huckleberry Finn's Comrade (with Shelley Fisher Fishkin) | Mark Twain's Dreams
In this episode, Jacke talks to eminent Twain scholar Shelley Fisher Fishkin (Was Huck Black?: Mark Twain and African-American Voices) about her new b...
717 Einstein and Kafka (with Ken Krimstein) | Dr Johnson Helps a Friend (and Changes the Course of Literary History) | My Last Book with Fernando Pessoa Expert Bartholomew Ryan
It's an action-packed day at the History of Literature! First, Jacke recounts the story of Dr. Johnson racing to the aid of his friend, the playwright...
716 Icelandic Folk Legends (with Dagrun Osk Jonsdottir) | John le Carre at the Bodleian
Since the first permanent settlers landed there more than a thousand years ago, Iceland has been perhaps the most unique and enchanting place in all o...
715 How Did George Eliot and the Victorians Respond to Climate Collapse? (with Nathan Hensley) | People at Museums Are Losing Their Brains! | My Last Book with Stephen Browning and Simon Thomas
What does it feel like to live helplessly in a world that is coming undone? If you're alive in 2025, you are probably very familiar with this feeling...
714 The Real Charles Dickens (with Stephen Browning and Simon Thomas) | Dickens and the Theatre
Charles Dickens (1812-1870) led one of the most colorful and interesting lives of any author. But while many of us are familiar with his unforgettable...
713 The Odyssey (with Daniel Mendelsohn) | The History of Literature Podcast Tour!
Homer's Odyssey is one of the oldest surviving works of literature - and yet, somehow, it can also feel like one of the newest. The inventive narrativ...
712 Shakespeare's Greatest Love (with David Medina) | New Play About Shakespeare's Collaboration with Marlowe
He might be the greatest writer about love that the world has ever known. But as is so often the case with Shakespeare, the biographical record raises...
711 How Does Literature Handle Atrocities? (with Bruce Robbins) | My Last Book with Hemingway Expert Alex Vernon | Who Will Come to Jacke and Emma's Party?
For millennia, literature has represented humanity at its finest. Over the same period of time, human beings have been committing the worst acts of ma...
710 Weird and Wonderful Stories from Ancient Greece and Rome (with Paul Chrystal) | A BIG ANNOUNCEMENT | Two Listeners Follow Their Dream (And Create Something Amazing)
It's another action-packed episode! First, Jacke relays the story of a long-time listener who worked some mundane jobs before becoming an artistic boo...
709 Black American Humor (with Damon Young) | The Greatest American Joke Ever Told?
DAMON YOUNG (What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker: A Memoir in Essays) is a Pittsburgh writer and humorist. In this episode, Jacke talks to Damon...
708 Science Fact and Science Fiction (with Keith Cooper) | AI Discovers a Work of Ancient Philosophy and Dreams Up a Reading List
For decades, writers and filmmakers have imagined worlds where characters can do things like watch a double sunset (on Tatooine, of course), or stand...
707 Emile Zola (with Robert Lethbridge) | Graham Greene's Only Ghost Story | My Last Book with Irina Mashinski
For years, listeners have been requesting an episode devoted to the French novelist, journalist, playwright, and public intellectual Émile Zola (1840-...
706 Living with Jane Austen (with Janet Todd) | A Listener Changes His Life | Bored Parents
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that Jane Austen's novels make us wish she was our friend. She wouldn't be just any old friend: she'd be the s...
705 Runaway Poets - How the Brownings Fell in Love (And Why It Matters)
Elizabeth Barrett (1806-1861) was one of the most prolific and accomplished poets of the Victorian age, an inspiration to Emily Dickinson, Oscar Wilde...
704 Butterflies Regained
Poetry, butterflies, and original music oh my! With some help from poets Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, William Wordsworth, and John Keats, along with...
703 D.H. Lawrence (with David Ellis) | My Last Book with Dorian Lynskey
D.H. Lawrence (1885-1930) is one of the most famous novelists of his era - and one of the most difficult to pin down. Was he a tasteless, avant-garde...
702 Writing in the World of Jane Austen (with D.G. Rampton) | Disaster at the Book Festival!
Jacke talks to D.G. Rampton, Australia's Queen of the Regency Romance, about her love for the novels of Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer - and what it'...
701 Emerson's Struggle with Slavery (with Kenneth Sacks) | My Last Book with Victoria Namkung | We Had Sex Inside Moby-Dick!
For several decades, Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) was perhaps the most prominent writer and intellectual in America. As an advocate of personal fre...