The History of Literature

By Jacke Wilson / The Podglomerate

Arts History

What's The History of Literature about?

Literature 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 paypal.me/jackewilson. Contact the show at [email protected]

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446 Percy Bysshe Shelley - ...

09.29.2022

Jacke takes a look at the early years of Percy Bysshe Shelley, from his idyllic childhood, to his rebellious student years, to his experiments in free love, radical politics, and Wordsworthian poetry. Works discussed include "Queen Mab," "Hymn to Intellectual ...

The History of Literature episodes:

09.29.2022 446 Percy Bysshe Shelley - The Early Years Jacke takes a look at the early years of Percy Bysshe Shelley, from his idyllic childhood, to his rebellious student years, to his experiments in free love, radical politics, and Wordsworthian poetry. Works discussed include "Queen Mab," "Hymn to Intellectual ...
09.26.2022 445 What Would Cervantes Do? (with David Castillo and William Egginton) As the author of what is generally considered the first and perhaps greatest novel of the modern era, Miguel de Cervantes and his masterpiece Don Quixote belongs on every shelf. But as two scholars point out in their new book, ...
09.22.2022 444 Thrillers on the Eve of War - Spy Novels in the 1930s (with Juliette Bretan) The British spy novel was well established long before Ian Fleming's creation of James Bond in the 1950s. And while it came to be identified with the Cold War, thanks to Fleming and subsequent writers like John le Carré, thriller ...
09.19.2022 443 Updating Bloom's Canon (with Bethanne Patrick) In 1994, Harold Bloom's magnum opus The Western Canon took up the critical cudgels on behalf of 26 writers declared by Bloom to be essential. In this episode, Bethanne Patrick (aka the Book Maven), literary critic and host of the ...
09.15.2022 442 Prince, Emperor, Sage - Bābur and the Bāburnāma (with Anuradha) The warrior and leader known as Bābur (1483-1530) had the kind of life one might expect from the descendant of Timur (Tamburlaine) on his father's side and Genghis Khan on his mother's. Elevated to the throne at age 12, and ...
09.12.2022 441 When Novels Were Novel (with Jason Feifer) It's hard to imagine now, but there was a time when reading novels was not a common activity - and then, suddenly, it was. In this episode, Jacke talks to Jason Feifer, an expert on transformative changes in society, to ...
09.08.2022 440 Emma's Pick - "A Pair of Silk Stockings" by Kate Chopin Today, Kate Chopin (1851-1904) might be best known for her groundbreaking feminist novel The Awakening (1899). But she was also an accomplished short story writer, publishing in national magazines like Atlantic Monthly and Vogue. In this episode, Jacke provides an ...
09.05.2022 439 Poets' Guide to Economics (with John Ramsden) Sure, we know poets are experts in subjects like love, death, nightingales, and moonlight. But what about money? Isn't that a little...beneath them? (Or at least out of their area of expertise?) In this episode, Jacke talks to author John ...
09.01.2022 438 How Was Your Ulysses? (with Mike Palindrome) In 1922, a writer for the Observer commented: "No book has been more eagerly and curiously awaited by the strange little inner circle of book-lovers and littérateurs than James Joyce's Ulysses." After declaring Joyce to be a man of genius, ...
08.29.2022 437 A Million Miracles Now - "A Bird, came down the Walk" by Emily Dickinson Responding to a listener email, a heartbroken Jacke takes a close look at Emily Dickinson's astonishing poem "A Bird, came down the Walk." Additional listening suggestions: 120 The Astonishing Emily Dickinson 418 "Because I could not stop for Death" by ...
08.25.2022 The History of Literature Presents: Missing Pages Today, we’d like to introduce you to the new podcast from The Podglomerate, Missing Pages. Missing Pages is an all-new investigative podcast hosted by world-renowned literary critic and publishing insider Bethanne Patrick. In its first season, Missing Pages uncovers the ...
08.22.2022 436 The Lorax by Dr Seuss (with Mesh Lakhani) He was born Theodor Seuss Geisel in 1904, but in the next 87 years, the world came to know and love him by his pen name, Dr. Seuss. Best known for his more than 60 books for children, including The ...
08.18.2022 435 The Story of the Hogarth Press Part 2 - The Virginia Woolf Story That Changed Everything In our last episode, we looked at the decision by Virginia Woolf and her husband Leonard to purchase a printing press and run it out of their home. What began as a hobby - a relief from the strains of ...
08.15.2022 434 The Story of the Hogarth Press Part 1 - Virginia Woolf's First Self-Published Story Virginia Woolf has long been celebrated as a supremely gifted novelist and essayist. Less well known, but important to understanding her life and contributions to literature, are her efforts as a publisher. In the decades that she and her husband ...
08.11.2022 433 Emma's Pick - "To Build a Fire" by Jack London Is this the greatest man vs. nature story ever? Hard to say. But it just might be the purest. Kicking off a new HOL feature, producer Emma chooses a short story for Jacke to read and discuss - Jack London's ...
08.08.2022 432 Hemingway's One True Sentence (with Mark Cirino) "All you have to do is write one true sentence," Ernest Hemingway said in A Moveable Feast. "Write the truest sentence that you know." And so he did: the man wrote thousands of sentences, all in search of "truth" of ...
08.04.2022 431 Langston Hughes Very few writers have had the influence or importance of Langston Hughes (1902?-1967). Best known for poems like "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," "I, Too," and "The Weary Blues," Hughes was also a widely read novelist, short story writer, and ...
08.01.2022 430 In Shakespeare's Shadow (with Michael Blanding) It's a paradox that has bothered Shakespeare's fans for centuries: the man was as insightful into human beings as anyone whoever lived, and yet his own life is barely documented. This combination of literary genius plus biographical uncertainty has spun ...
07.28.2022 429 Books I Have Loved (with Charles Baxter, Margot Livesey, and Jim Shepard) For years, we've enjoyed talking to writers about the books they love best. In this "best of" episode, we go deep into the archive for three of our favorites: Jim Shepard and his youthful discovery of Bram Stoker's Dracula; Margot ...
07.25.2022 428 Edward Gibbon (with Zachary Karabell) Since the first publication of his six-volume magnum opus, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon (1734-1797) has been ranked among the greatest historians who ever lived. What made his work different? Does it ...
07.21.2022 427 Bashō's Best - Haiku and the Essence of Life In our last episode, Jacke looked at the life of celebrated Japanese poet Matsuo Bashō (1644-1694), the widely acknowledged master of haiku. In this episode, Jacke looks deeper into the nature of Bashō's best works, organizing them into some loose ...
07.18.2022 426 Matsuo Bashō - Haiku's Greatest Master In addition to being what is probably the most widely used poetic form, haiku is almost certainly the most often misunderstood. In this episode, Jacke examines the life and works of Matsuo Bashō (1644-1694), haiku's greatest master, as he sorts ...
07.14.2022 425 Tom Stoppard (with Scott Carter) Born Tomáš Sträussler, in what was then Czechoslovakia, celebrated playwright Tom Stoppard (1937- ) became one of the best known British playwrights in the world. Known for his with and humor, his facility with language, and the depth of his ...
07.11.2022 424 Karel Čapek (with Ian Coss) Czech novelist Karel Čapek (1890-1938) might be best known as the pioneering science fiction writer who first coined the term "robot." But readers have long appreciated the transcendent humanity of his works. "There was no writer like him," Arthur Miller ...
07.07.2022 423 Roger Ebert Jacke spends his birthday reflecting on Chicago film critic Roger Ebert (1942-2013), the Judd Apatow show Freaks and Geeks, and other literature-and-life topics. Enjoy! Additional listening suggestions: 421 HOL Goes to the Movies 79 Music that Melts the Stars - ...
07.04.2022 422 Wallace Stegner (with Melodie Edwards) During his lifetime, Wallace Stegner (1909-1993) became famous for his prizewinning fiction and autobiographical works; his dedication to environmental causes; and his initiation of the creative writing program at Stanford University that bears his name. His most celebrated works, including ...
06.30.2022 421 HOL Goes to the Movies (A Best-of Episode with Brian Price, Meg Tilly, and Mike Palindrome) Summertime! The season for watching blockbuster movies in arctic conditions, heart-pounding suspense flicks that heat the blood, and cool-breeze dramas that stir the soul. In this best-of episode, Jacke celebrates the summer with portions of conversations with three previous guests, ...
06.27.2022 420 Honoré de Balzac (with Carlos Allende) Very few novelists can match the ambition or output of French novelist Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850). A pioneer of the great nineteenth-century "realism" tradition, his novel sequence La Comédie Humaine presents a panoramic view of post-Napoleonic France. Containing something like ...
06.23.2022 419 Christina Rossetti It's the Christina Rossetti episode! Jacke finally musters up the energy to finish what he started, and takes a look at one of the great poets of the Victorian era (and the creator of "Goblin Market," one of the strangest ...
06.20.2022 418 "Because I could not stop for Death" by Emily Dickinson Because Jacke could not stop for the scheduled episode topics, a certain poem kindly stopped for him. Luckily it's one of the greatest poems of all time! It's by the 19th-century American genius Emily Dickinson, and it packs into seven ...
06.16.2022 417 What Happened on Roanoke Island? (with Kimberly Brock) It's one of the great mysteries in American history. The "lost colony" of Roanoke Island, where 120 or so men, women, and children living in the first permanent English settlement in North America simply disappeared, leaving behind nothing but a ...
06.13.2022 416 William Blake vs the World (with John Higgs) In his lifetime, the Romantic poet and engraver William Blake (1757-1827) was barely known and frequently misunderstood. Today, his genius is widely celebrated and his poems are some of the most famous in the English language - and yet we ...
06.09.2022 415 "Goblin Market" by Christina Rossetti As a devout and passionate religious observer, Victorian poet Christina Rossetti (1830-1894) lived a life that might seem, at first glance, as proper and tame. Even some of her greatest works, devotional poems and verses for children, strike us as ...
06.06.2022 414 Henry James's Golden Bowl (with Dinitia Smith) \| William Blake Preview (with John Higgs) Money. Sex. Power. Family. Those are the conceits at the heart of Henry James's late-period masterpiece, The Golden Bowl. In this episode, Jacke talks to author Dinitia Smith, whose new novel The Prince reinvigorates this classic story of a wealthy ...
06.02.2022 413 Walt Whitman - "Song of Myself" In this episode, we resume our look at Walt Whitman's life and body of work, focusing in particular on the years 1840-1855. Did Whitman's teaching career end with him being tarred and feathered by an angry mob, as has long ...
05.30.2022 412 HOL Goes to War (with Elizabeth Samet, Matt Gallagher, and Tom Roston) In this best-of History of Literature episode, Jacke revisits the topic of war and literature with three guests: Professor Elizabeth Samet (Soldier's Heart: Reading Literature Through Peace and War at West Point), who teaches literature to military officers in training; ...
05.26.2022 411 Walt Whitman - A New Hope In 1844, Ralph Waldo Emerson called for a new poet who would reflect the spirit and potential of America. In 1855, a then-unknown poet named Walt Whitman published Leaves of Grass, his attempt to fulfill Emerson's wish. In this episode, ...
05.23.2022 410 What Is American Literature? (with Ilan Stavans) America, America, America... a continent, a nation, a people, and a whole lotta books. But how does America define itself? Who defines it? Where did the idea of American exceptionalism come from? And how does literature fit into any of ...
05.19.2022 409 "Fear and Trembling" (The Story of Abraham and Isaac) by Soren Kierkegaard In our last look at Søren Kierkegaard, we left our hero after he had just left the love of his life, Regine Olsen, in favor of a life devoted to God and philosophy. In this episode, Jacke looks at one ...
05.16.2022 408 Dylan Thomas (with Scott Carter) Do not go gentle into this good episode! Rage, rage against the dying of the... well, things fall apart there, don't they? (Because we're not gifted poets like Dylan Thomas!) In this episode, Jacke talks to producer, playwright, and performer ...
05.12.2022 407 "The Old Nurse's Story" by Elizabeth Gaskell Elizabeth Gaskell had only written one novel when Charles Dickens started publishing her work in his journal Household Words. But soon she would become famous as the author of Cranford and North and South, two of the best novels of ...
05.09.2022 406 A World in Turmoil - 1967-1971 (with Beverly Gologorsky) Novelist Beverly Gologorsky joins Jacke for a discussion of the tumultuous years from 1967 to 1971, which provides the background for her new novel. In Can You See the Wind?, a working-class family in the Bronx struggles to make a ...
05.05.2022 405 Kierkegaard Falls in Love The nineteenth-century Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) is well known as the father of existentialism and one of the great Christian thinkers of all time. But it is in his relationship with Regine Olsen - his love for her, their ...
05.02.2022 404 Kafka and Literary Oblivion (with Robin Hemley) Author Robin Hemley joins Jacke for a discussion of Kafka, writerly ambition, and his new novel Oblivion: An After Autobiography, which tells the story of a midlist author who finds himself in the posthumous world where authors fade from obscurity ...
04.28.2022 403 The Wonderful World of Mysteries (A Best-of-HOL Episode) Mysteries! In this best-of episode, Jacke revisits conversations with three guests for three different angles on this popular and enduring literary genre. First, Jonah Lehrer (Mystery: A Seduction, A Strategy, A Solution) discusses what exactly makes mysteries so compelling. Then, ...
04.26.2022 Introducing "The History of Literature" Literature enthusiast Jacke Wilson journeys through the history of literature, from ancient epics to contemporary classics. Find out more at historyofliterature.com and facebook.com/historyofliterature. Support the show by visiting patreon.com/literature or paypal.me/jackewilson. New episodes every Monday and Thursday wherever you listen ...
04.25.2022 402 "The Open Boat" by Stephen Crane After being given $700 in Spanish gold by some newspapers, a 25-year-old Stephen Crane set out for Florida, where he planned to travel by boat to Cuba and cover the impending Spanish-American War as a war correspondent. But the steamship ...
04.21.2022 401 HOL Presents: Melissa Chadburn and The Throwaways (A Storybound Project) \| PLUS The First Work of Literature by an African American Author Jacke takes a look at the first work of literature by an African American author, courtesy of Fictions of America: The Book of Firsts by Uli Baer and Smaran Dayal. Then he turns things over to Storybound, a Podglomerate podcast, ...
04.18.2022 400 Anniversary Special! (with Mike Palindrome) Celebrating 400 episodes of The History of Literature, Jacke and Mike respond to a listener poll and choose the Top 10 Episodes We Must Do in the Future. Additional listening suggestions: Episode 83 - Overrated! Top 10 Books You Don't ...
04.14.2022 399 Stephen Crane (with Linda H. Davis) Stephen Crane (1871-1900) lived fast, died young, and impressed everyone with his prose style and insight into the human condition. While he's best known today for his novels The Red Badge of Courage and Maggie: A Girl of the Streets ...

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