The History of Literature

By Jacke Wilson / The Podglomerate

Arts History

What's The History of Literature about?

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 facebook.com/historyofliterature. Support the show by visiting patreon.com/literature or historyofliterature.com/donate. Contact the show at [email protected].

4.6

645 ratings

Download our free app to listen on your phone

LAST EPISODE

570 Pirates! (with Katharin...

11.30.2023

Jacke talks to bestselling author Katharine Howe (editor of The Penguin Book of Pirates) about her new novel, A True Account: Hannah Masury's Sojourn Amongst the Pirates, Written by Herself. PLUS an analysis of Emily Dickinson's Poem #256 ("The Robin's ...

The History of Literature episodes:

11.30.2023 570 Pirates! (with Katharine Howe) Jacke talks to bestselling author Katharine Howe (editor of The Penguin Book of Pirates) about her new novel, A True Account: Hannah Masury's Sojourn Amongst the Pirates, Written by Herself. PLUS an analysis of Emily Dickinson's Poem #256 ("The Robin's ...
11.27.2023 569 The Man with a Passion for Medieval Manuscripts (with Christopher de Hamel) \| My Last Book with Maaheen Ahmed Jacke talks to British academic librarian Christopher de Hamel about his passion for medieval manuscripts and his new book The Manuscripts Club: The People Behind a Thousand Years of Medieval Manuscripts. PLUS Maaheen Ahmed, editor of The Cambridge Companion to ...
11.22.2023 568 The Tempest (with Laurie Frankel) Jacke celebrates autumn with a look at Shakespeare's Sonnet #73 ("That time of year thou mayst in me behold"), then welcomes novelist Laurie Frankel (Family Family, One Two Three) for a Wednesday-before-Thanksgiving discussion of one of Shakespeare's last works, The ...
11.20.2023 567 Your Dream Guest: Jessica Kirzane on Translating Yiddish Literature \| My Last Book with Jack Zipes Your wish is our command! Jacke talks to listener-nominated "dream guest" Dr. Jessica Kirzane about her work with Yiddish literature, including her recent translations of early twentieth-century writer Miriam Karpilove, Diary of a Lonely Girl and A Provincial Newspaper and ...
11.16.2023 566 Shakespeare's First Folio - The Facsimile Edition (with Adrian Edwards) Jacke talks to Adrian Edwards, the lead curator of the British Library's Printed Heritage Collections, about the new book Shakespeare's First Folio: 400th Anniversary Facsimile Edition: Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories & Tragedies, Published According to the Original Copies. PLUS ...
11.13.2023 565 The Roman Empire's Golden Age (with Tom Holland) \| My Last Book with Honor Cargill-Martin It was an era known as the Golden Age of Rome, when the republic-turned-empire became the wealthiest and most formidable state in the history of humankind. In this episode, Jacke talks to novelist-turned-historian Tom Holland (Rubicon: The Last Years of ...
11.09.2023 564 H.D. (with Lara Vetter) Jacke talks to scholar and biographer Lara Vetter (H.D. (Hilda Dolittle)) about the life and works of modernist poet and avant-garde woman Hilda Dolittle, better known by her nom de plume H.D. Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or historyofliterature.com/donate. ...
11.06.2023 563 Sylvia Plath (with Carl Rollyson) Jacke talks to "serial biographer" Carl Rollyson (The Last Days of Sylvia Plath, The Life of William Faulkner) about his new book, Sylvia Plath: Day by Day: Volume 1: 1932-1955, which draws upon Plath's diaries and other writings to present ...
11.02.2023 562 Literature Later in Life (with Myron Tuman) Jacke starts the show with a listener email and a look at Emily Dickinson's Poem #238 ("How many times these low feet staggered - "). THEN author Myron Tuman (The Stuttering Son in Literature and Psychology: Boys and Their Fathers, ...
10.30.2023 561 Homer and His Iliad (with Robin Lane Fox) \| A Quick Hit of Witches (with Katherine Howe) Who was Homer? And why, all these years later, do we still read his Iliad? In this episode, Jacke talks to author Robin Lane Fox (Homer and His Iliad) about his lifelong passion for this classic ancient text. PLUS Katherine ...
10.26.2023 560 The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving It's the early nineteenth century, and the moon is bright, the Hudson Valley forests are full of shadows, and a lonely schoolteacher heads home on his rickety horse. All those stories he's heard about a headless horseman are just stuff ...
10.23.2023 559 Washington Irving \| My Last Book with Joe Skinner Jacke takes a look at "America's first Man of Letters," Washington Irving (1783-1859), most famous for his short stories "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle." PLUS Joe Skinner of American Masters: Creative Spark chooses the last book ...
10.19.2023 558 Black Nature Writing (with Erin Sharkey) How do we humans experience nature? And how might we experience nature differently from one another? In this episode, Jacke talks to writer, film producer, arts and abolition organizer, cultural worker, and educator Erin Sharkey about a new book of ...
10.16.2023 557 Somerset Maugham (with Tan Twan Eng) The English novelist, playwright, and short story writer Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) lived a life as eventful as his prodigious literary output. In this episode, Jacke takes a look at Maugham's travels and travails, following Maugham across numerous continents as he ...
10.12.2023 556 The Story Behind a Children's Classic - Anna Sewell and the Writing of 'Black Beauty' (with Celia Brayfield) Born in 1820, the devout Quaker Anna Sewell was in her fifties - and terminally ill - when she decided to write a book that would change the way the public viewed and treated animals. Although her novel Black Beauty ...
10.09.2023 555 What Was Shakespeare Really Like? (with Sir Stanley Wells) \| My Last Book with David Ellis Shakespeare's plays and poetry are some of the most towering achievements in the history of humankind. What was Shakespeare the person like? How did he work? What made him laugh? In this episode, Jacke talks to Sir Stanley Wells about ...
10.05.2023 554 John Ashbery (with Jess Cotton) \| My Last Book with David van den Berg Poetry! Poetry! Poetry! After taking a look at Emily Dickinson's Poem #1 94 ("Title divine - is mine!"), Jacke talks to Cambridge University's Jess Cotton, whose biography of John Ashbery (John Ashbery: A Critical Life) charts Ashbery's rise from a ...
10.02.2023 553 A Haunted House by Virginia Woolf \| My Last Book with Max Saunders Jacke takes a look at "A Haunted House," Virginia Woolf's modernist ghost story. PLUS Ford Madox Ford biographer Max Saunders (Ford Madox Ford: A Critical Life) stops by to discuss his choice for the last book he will ever read. ...
09.28.2023 552 Writing after Rushdie (with Shilpi Suneja) Jacke talks to novelist Shilpi Suneja about her childhood in India, her discovery of Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children, and her new novel House of Caravans, which offers its own fresh look at Indian Independence and its aftermath. Shilpi Suneja is ...
09.25.2023 551 Charlotte Lennox and The Female Quixote (Forgotten Women of Literature 8) \| My Last Book with Laura Marris and Alice Kaplan Jacke takes a look at the life and works of eighteenth-century novelist Charlotte Lennox, whose poetry, plays, novels, and criticism earned her the approbation of the best literary minds of her day. Best known for The Female Quixote, a parody ...
09.21.2023 550 F Scott Fitzgerald (with Arthur Krystal) \| My Last Book with Jed Rasula Just who was F. Scott Fitzgerald? How do we make sense of his many different sides? In this episode, Jacke talks to biographer Arthur Krystal about his new book Some Unfinished Chaos: The Lives of F. Scott Fitzgerald. PLUS Jed ...
09.18.2023 549 Forgotten Women of Literature 7 - Ursula Parrott (with Marsha Gordon) Hardly anyone knows Ursula Parrott today, but not long ago she was close to being a household name. As a bestselling novelist of the Roaring Twenties and beyond, Parrott's life was filled with literature, celebrity, and scandal. In this episode, ...
09.14.2023 548 Shakespeare in a Divided America (with James Shapiro) Jacke talks to Shakespeare scholar James Shapiro about his new book, Shakespeare in a Divided America: What His Plays Tell Us About Our Past and Future, which looks at eight contentious periods in American history to see how Shakespeare plays ...
09.11.2023 547 Borges, Heisenberg, Kant, and the Ultimate Nature of Reality (with William Egginton) Jacke talks to author William Egginton about his new book Borges, Heisenberg, Kant, and the Ultimate Nature of Reality, which uses the examples of three profound thinkers to explore the differences between reality "out there" and reality as we experience ...
09.07.2023 546 The Cambridge Companion to Comics (with Maaheen Ahmed) \| My Last Book with Elizabeth Winkler Jacke talks to Professor Maaheen Ahmed, editor of The Cambridge Companion to Comics, about the popular, multifaceted, and dynamic art form of manga, graphic novels, and other comics. PLUS Elizabeth Winkler (Shakespeare Was a Woman and Other Heresies: How Doubting ...
09.04.2023 545 Milton's Paradise Lost - A Personal Journey (with Ed Simon) Jacke talks to author Ed Simon about his new book Heaven, Hell, and Paradise Lost, which considers Paradise Lost within the scope of Simon's alcoholism and recovery. PLUS Jacke continues his journey through the poetry of Emily Dickinson with a ...
08.31.2023 544 Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee (with Mike Palindrome) In this episode, Jacke and Mike discuss Disgrace, J.M. Coetzee's stunning 1999 novel about sex, violence, salvation, and ruin in post-apartheid South Africa. Telling the story of David Lurie, a fiftysomething professor who has fallen from grace after a sexual ...
08.28.2023 543 A Philosopher's Guide to Rome (with Scott Samuelson) Rome! The Eternal City! It's a place for celebrating lives both present and past - and in addition to all the art and culture and architecture and food, it's a place to think deeply about the meaning of life. In ...
08.24.2023 542 The Altar of the Dead by Henry James (Pt 2) Jacke begins with a look at Emily Dickinson's poem #122, then continues (and concludes) his reading and analysis of the Henry James masterpiece, "The Altar of the Dead." Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or historyofliterature.com/donate. The History of Literature ...
08.21.2023 541 The Altar of the Dead by Henry James During a horrible period of grief, literary failure, and general bewilderment, Henry James turned to art - and created some of his greatest masterpieces. In this episode, Jacke takes a look at one of James's best (and most underappreciated) stories, ...
08.17.2023 540 A Black Queen in Exile (with Vanessa Riley) \| My Last Book with Jolene Hubbs Jacke kicks things off with a look at Emily Dickinson's Poem #90, then welcomes author Vanessa Riley for a discussion of her new historical novel Queen of Exiles, which tells the story of Haiti's Queen Marie-Louise Christophe. PLUS author Jolene ...
08.14.2023 539 Tender Is the Night by F Scott Fitzgerald (with Mike Palindrome) Jacke and Mike take a look at the stormy Fitzgerald marriage and F. Scott Fitzgerald's fourth novel, Tender Is the Night, which many consider to be his masterpiece. (Yes, even better than Gatsby!) Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or ...
08.10.2023 538 Writing Our Extinction (with Patrick Whitmarsh) \| My Last Book with Christina Jarvis Jacke continues his Emily Dickinson series with a reading of Poem #32. Then Professor Patrick Whitmarsh stops by for a discussion of his new book Writing Our Extinction: Anthropocene Fiction and Vertical Science, which examines works by Don DeLillo, Karen ...
08.07.2023 537 The Persian Prince (with Hamid Dabashi) Jacke talks to Professor Hamid Dabashi about his new book The Persian Prince: The Rise and Resurrection of an Imperial Archetype, which replaces Machiavelli's Il Principe with a bold new figurative ideal. Drawing on works from Classical Antiquity to postcolonial ...
08.03.2023 536 Literary New Orleans (with TR Johnson) \| My Last Book with Len Webb and Vincent Williams It's a trip to the Big Easy! The city of New Orleans is so famous for its music, its food, and its Mardi Gras mentality that it's sometimes overlooked as a magnet for writers like Walt Whitman, Zora Neale Hurston, ...
07.31.2023 535 The Australian Novelist Who Writes History Through Women's Eyes (with Pip Williams) Australia! After promising listeners an episode about Australia for years, Jacke FINALLY gets his act together - and luckily he has the perfect guest to help him out. In this episode, Australian novelist Pip Williams, who achieved international bestsellerdom with ...
07.27.2023 534 Dostoevsky and "The Dream of a Ridiculous Man" The hits keep coming at the History of Literature Podcast! In this episode, Jacke follows up on last week's episode on Crime and Punishment with a look at the short story that literary critic Mikhail Bakhtin called "practically a complete ...
07.24.2023 533 Langston Hughes in Context (with Vera Kutzinski and Anthony Reed) \| My Last Book with Melissa Homestead It's another packed episode! First, Jacke talks to Langston Hughes scholars Vera Kutzinski and Anthony Reed about their new book, Langston Hughes in Context, which shows how Hughes was much more than just a poet of the Harlem Renaissance. PLUS ...
07.20.2023 532 Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky "It is directly obvious," said Virginia Woolf after reading Crime and Punishment, "that [Dostoevsky] is the greatest writer ever born." In this episode, Jacke takes a look at the classic novel of murder, guilt, and redemption, including the letter Dostoevsky ...
07.17.2023 531 Fairy Tales (with Jack Zipes) Jacke talks to fairy tale expert Jack Zipes about his new book Buried Treasures: The Power of Political Fairy Tales, which profiles modern writers and artists who tapped the political potential of fairy tales. Help support the show at patreon.com/literature ...
07.13.2023 530 Martin Amis RIP (with Mike Palindrome) Jacke and Mike discuss the life and works of novelist Martin Amis (1949-2023), who recently died of esophageal cancer. The son of writer Kingsley Amis, Martin forged his own path, writing fifteen novels and several other works of essays and ...
07.10.2023 529 Ten Thousand Things and the Asian American Experience (with Shin Yu Pai) \| My Last Book with Ross Benjamin Jacke talks to Shin Yu Pai, currently the Civic Poet of Seattle, about her career as an artist and her podcast Ten Thousand Things, which explores a collection of objects and artifacts that tell us something about Asian American life. ...
07.06.2023 528 Literary Dublin (with Chris Morash) \| A Poem by Shin Yu Pai \| My Last Book with John Higgs "The words of its writers are part of the texture of Dublin, an invisible counterpart to the bricks and pavement we see around us." Exploring this synergy - between a city and its chief cultural export - is the promise ...
07.03.2023 527 Shakespeare Was a Woman and Other Heresies (with Elizabeth Winkler) \| My Last Book with Megan Marshall In 2019, journalist Elizabeth Winkler wrote an article for the Atlantic, in which she asked whether Shakespeare's plays might have been written by someone other than the man born in Stratford-upon-Avon. The backlash to her article raised a new set ...
06.29.2023 526 "The Wife of His Youth" by Charles Chesnutt Charles W. Chesnutt (1858-1932) was an American author who was, by his reckoning, seven-eighths white, though he identified as black. Rejecting the opportunity to "pass," he instead devoted his life to improving race relations through the medium of fiction. Known ...
06.26.2023 525 Don DeLillo (with Jesse Kavadlo) Don DeLillo (White Noise, Underworld) is a writer's writer's writer. Often called one of the most important novelists of the late twentieth and early twenty-first century, his themes and style have made him one of the most highly regarded and ...
06.22.2023 524 Growing Old with The Graduate - Mike Nichols, Roger Ebert, Charles Webb, and Me The Graduate, a 1967 film directed by Mike Nichols and based on a novel by Charles Webb, introduced the world to actor Dustin Hoffman and became one of the most beloved Hollywood comedies ever made. Telling the story of a ...
06.19.2023 523 Geoffrey Chaucer (with Marion Turner) \| A New Podcast About the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Strike (with AFSCME President Lee Saunders) Thanks mostly to the achievement and success of his Canterbury Tales, poet Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1340s-1400) has been called "the Father of English literature" for more than 500 years. In this episode, Jacke talks to University of Oxford Professor Marion ...
06.15.2023 522 Class, Whiteness, and Southern Literature (with Jolene Hubbs) \| My Last Book with Mark Cirino In the late nineteenth century, a popular magazine ran a cartoon with what it called "a race problem." Tensions between black and white Americans in the postwar era? Nope. It was referring to a poor white southerner - shabby, slouching, ...
06.12.2023 521 The Empress Messalina (with Honor Cargill-Martin) \| My Last Book with Robert Chandler The empress Messalina, third wife of the Roman emperor Claudius, was a ruthless, sexually insatiable schemer - or was she? But while the stories about her are wild (nightly visits to a brothel, a 24-hour sex competition), the real story ...

Older episodes