For millennia, literature has represented humanity at its finest. Over the same period of time, human beings have been committing the worst acts of mass violence imaginable. How have authors addressed these atrocities? Have they shown an ability to look at their own nation with the critical eyes of a stranger? And if so, have works of imagination proven themselves to be the right means of doing so? In this episode, Jacke talks to Bruce Robbins about his book Atrocity: A Literary History, which explores literary representations of mass violence to trace the emergence of a cosmopolitan recognition of atrocity. PLUS Hemingway expert Alex Vernon stops by to discuss his choice for the last book he will ever read. (Will Hemingway make his list?) AND Jacke reflects on marriage, catch phrases, and the sincere hope that someone will come to his party.

Interested in the History of Literature Podcast Tour? Send us an email at [email protected] or a message via the Contact page of historyofliterature.com.

The music in this episode is by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal. Learn more at gabrielruizbernal.com .

Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or historyofliterature.com/donate . The History of Literature Podcast is a member of Lit Hub Radio and the Podglomerate Network. Learn more at thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature .

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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 bookmaker. Then Jacke talks to author Paul Chrystal about his work diving into lesser-known ancient texts for his book Miracula: Weird and Wonderful Stories of Ancient Greece and Rome. And in between, Jacke announces an exciting new development for the podcast. Enjoy!

The music in this episode is by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal. Learn more at gabrielruizbernal.com .

Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or historyofliterature.com/donate . The History of Literature Podcast is a member of Lit Hub Radio and the Podglomerate Network. Learn more at thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature .

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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 about his work editing and writing an introduction for That's How They Get You: An Unruly Anthology of Black American Humor, which emphasizes how and why Black American humor is uniquely transfixing. PLUS Jacke nominates a joke as the greatest American joke ever told.

Learn more about Damon Young and his work at https://www.damonjyoung.com.

Information about tour events for the anthology of Black American humor is available at https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/2268679/damon-young/#events

The music in this episode is by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal. Learn more at gabrielruizbernal.com .

Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or historyofliterature.com/donate . The History of Literature Podcast is a member of Lit Hub Radio and the Podglomerate Network. Learn more at thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature .

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For decades, writers and filmmakers have imagined worlds where characters can do things like watch a double sunset (on Tatooine, of course), or stand among the sand dunes of Arrakis, or gaze at the gas-giant planet Polyphemus from the moon Pandora. But even as works like Star Wars, Dune, and Avatar have enticed us with their fictional renditions of planets beyond our reach, astronomers have slowly begun to compile a set of scientific truths about the actual exoplanets. In this episode, Jacke talks to author Keith Cooper (Amazing Worlds of Science Fiction and Science Fact) about the realities beyond imaginary planets. PLUS Jacke takes a look at two AI-related pieces of news: the recovery of writing long thought to be lost on a scroll charred by Vesuvian ash, and a summer reading list that surprised everyone - including the authors who made the list for reasons they were not expecting.

Additional listening:

The music in this episode is by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal. Learn more at gabrielruizbernal.com .

Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or historyofliterature.com/donate . The History of Literature Podcast is a member of Lit Hub Radio and the Podglomerate Network. Learn more at thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature .

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For years, listeners have been requesting an episode devoted to the French novelist, journalist, playwright, and public intellectual Émile Zola (1840-1902). In this episode, Jacke talks to author Robert Lethbridge, whose new book Émile Zola: A Determined Life presents a comprehensive exploration of the life, work, and times of the celebrated French literary polymath. PLUS Jacke takes a look at some news that a ghost story by Graham Greene - perhaps the only one he ever wrote - has recently emerged from the literary graveyard. AND FINALLY Russian-American poet and co-editor of The Penguin Book of Russian Poetry Irina Mashinski stops by to discuss her choice for the last book she will ever read.

Additional listening:

The music in this episode is by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal. Learn more at gabrielruizbernal.com .

Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or historyofliterature.com/donate . The History of Literature Podcast is a member of Lit Hub Radio and the Podglomerate Network. Learn more at thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature .

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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 sharpest and wisest, the one we turn to in a crisis, the one who understands our flaws and helps us see our blind spots. As we navigate the perils of love and life, she'd be the friend who gently points us in the right direction. Well, that's a funny thing to say about someone who lived more than two hundred years ago, but it's how we feel. And so, we turn to her novels as the next best thing. In this episode, Jacke talks to author Janet Todd (Living with Jane Austen) about what it's been like to rely on Jane Austen as an advice-giver for more than fifty years. PLUS Jacke reads an email from a listener who's made a dramatic change in his approach to literature and life. AND a new survey about parenting and reading arouses some of Jacke's deepest passions.

Additional listening:

The music in this episode is by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal. Learn more at gabrielruizbernal.com .

Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or historyofliterature.com/donate . The History of Literature Podcast is a member of Lit Hub Radio and the Podglomerate Network. Learn more at thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature .

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Elizabeth Barrett (1806-1861) was one of the most prolific and accomplished poets of the Victorian age, an inspiration to Emily Dickinson, Oscar Wilde, Edgar Allan Poe, and countless others. And yet, her life was full of cloistered misery, as her father insisted that she should never marry. And then, the clouds lifted, and a letter arrived. It was from the poet Robert Browning (1812-1889), admiring her from afar, declaring his love. How did these two poets find each other? What kind of life did they share afterwards? And what dark secrets had led to her father’s restrictions…and how might that have affected his daughter’s poetry? Host Jacke Wilson takes a look at the story of the Brownings.

This episode originally ran as episode 95 on May 29, 2017. It is presented here without commercial interruption.

Additional listening:

Music Credits:

“Handel – Entrance to the Queen of Sheba” by Advent Chamber Orchestra (From the Free Music Archive / CC by SA).

“Monkeys Spinning Monkeys” and “Piano Between” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0.

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Poetry, butterflies, and original music oh my! With some help from poets Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, William Wordsworth, and John Keats, along with original music by composer Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal, Jacke tackles the topic of butterflies. Yes, yes, we all know that butterflies are symbols of beauty and transformation - but can great poets get beyond the clichés? Why did Keats imagine himself as a butterfly in his love letters? Did Robert Frost mansplain poetry to Emily Dickinson (and do we agree)? In this episode, we flit and float and fleetly flee and fly through literature, life, music, and poetry - like a butterfly, maybe? (Maybe so!)

Additional listening:

The music in this episode is by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal. Learn more at gabrielruizbernal.com . "Two Butterflies" performed by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal and Allison Hughes.

Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or historyofliterature.com/donate . The History of Literature Podcast is a member of Lit Hub Radio and the Podglomerate Network. Learn more at thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature .

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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 pornographer? Or the greatest imaginative novelist of his generation (as E.M. Forster once said)? What should we know about his hard-luck childhood and turbulent adult life? In this episode, Jacke talks to biographer David Ellis (D.H. Lawrence: A Critical Life) about the struggle to capture and convey the essence of Lawrence's life and works. PLUS Dorian Lynskey (Everything Must Go: The Stories We Tell About the End of the World), an expert in literature about cataclysmic events, stops by to discuss the last book he - and others - might turn to at the very end.

Additional listening:

The music in this episode is by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal. Learn more at gabrielruizbernal.com .

Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or historyofliterature.com/donate . The History of Literature Podcast is a member of Lit Hub Radio and the Podglomerate Network. Learn more at thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature .

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