Episodes

Why do we fall in love? Why do we fall out of love? And how can literature shape the way we travel these emotional and romantic landscapes? In this episode, Jacke talks to University of Oxford professor Sophie Ratcliffe about her work of creative criticism, Loss, A Love Story: Imagined Histories and Brief Encounters. 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. Le...

She's been called Scandinavia's best loved author - but "author" only begins to describe Tove Jansson's genius. Famous worldwide as the creator of the Moomin stories, she balanced her talents as a painter, cartoonist, illustrator, and writer with an unusual lifestyle and an insistence on personal freedom. In this episode, Jacke talks to biographer Boel Westin (Tove Jansson: Life, Art, Words) about the joyful and uncompromising approach that Tove Jansson brought to life, love, and her many creati...

Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Chekhov... the familiar Russian names are at the pinnacle of world literature. How did this happen? Was it merely a happy accident? Did events conspire to bring it about? In this episode, Jacke talks to Rolf Hellebust, author of How Russian Literature Became Great, about a golden age of historiography and nation-building - and the consequences for the history of literature. Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or historyofliterature.com/donate. The History of L...

Born more than two centuries ago, Ralph Waldo Emerson has long been recognized as a giant of nineteenth-century American letters. But what can he offer readers today? In this episode, Jacke talks to author James Marcus, author of the new book Glad to the Brink of Fear: A Portrait of Ralph Waldo Emerson, which reconsiders Emerson's reputation as a "starry-eyed prophet of self-reliance" in favor of a more complicated figure who spent a lifetime wrestling with injustice, philosophy, art, desire, an...

We humans imprint ourselves on our surroundings - and they, in turn, have the power to affect us. In this episode, Jacke talks to Gareth Russell (The Palace: From the Tudors to the Windsors, 500 Years of History at Hampton Court) about the building that Thomas Hardy famously called a "Spellbound Palace" in one of his finest poems. We'll hear about the building's history and why it holds a special place in literary history, including the planning of the King James Bible and as a site for early Sh...

It's the start of a new hundred episodes! Fresh off her tour for her new novel The Road from Belhaven, superguest Margot Livesey joins Jacke for a discussion of mistakes in the novels of Thomas Hardy. Then Jacke tells Margot the heartrending story of Hardy's fraught relationship with his first wife Emma - and how Emma's death unlocked some of his greatest poetry. Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or historyofliterature.com/donate. The History of Literature Podcast is a member of...

It's another milestone for the History of Literature Podcast! Jacke celebrates the six hundredth episode of the podcast with a return to one of his old favorites, the "harmless drudge" himself, Dr. Johnson, with the help of Johnsonian expert Phil Jones (Reading Samuel Johnson: Reception and Representation, 1750-1970). PLUS Rupert Holmes (Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide) shares his choice for the last book he will ever read. Help support the show at patreon.com/literature...

While avant-garde filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky might be most famous for the wildly ambitious version of Dune that never got made - in spite of having actors and artists like Orson Welles, Salvador Dalí, Mick Jagger, Pink Floyd, H.R. Giger, and Mœbius attached to the project - he was also the creative force behind several dynamic and influential films. In this episode, William Egginton (The Rigor of Angels: Borges, Kant, Heisenberg, and the Ultimate Nature of Reality) returns to discuss his new...

Charmian Kittredge London (1871-1955) may be best known as the wife of the famous American writer Jack London, but she was herself a literary trailblazer - and the epitome of a modern woman. In this episode, Jacke talks to biographer Iris Jamahl Dunkle (Charmian Kittredge London: Trailblazer, Author, Adventurer) about the intriguing life and inspirational career of an underappreciated literary figure. PLUS Mike Palindrome, President of the Literature Supporters Club, makes the case for the great...

Norwegian author Karl Ove Knausgaard (b. 1968) became known in his home country - or at least its literary circles - when he put out two well-received novels in the late 1990s. But it was the publication of his six-volume autobiographical series Min Kamp, or My Struggle, that turned him into a household name - and when the books were translated into English in 2012, he became a worldwide publishing phenomenon. In this episode, Jacke talks to editor Bob Blaisdell about his own reading of Knausgaa...

It's a literary smorgasbord! First, Jacke dives into the recent news of the surprising connection between Taylor Swift and Emily Dickinson. Next, he welcomes Mike Palindrome, President of the Literature Supporters Club, for a discussion of why Mike has been reading Flannery O'Connor for so many years. Then storytelling expert J. Edward Chamberlin stops by to discuss his new book, Storylines: How Words Shape Our Worlds, which explores the power of stories to transform despair and disillusionment ...

For centuries, Machiavelli has been viewed as everything from an insightful pragmatist to the mouthpiece of Satan. In this episode, Jacke talks to Italian scholar Gabriele Pedullà about his book On Niccolò Machiavelli: The Bonds of Politics, which offers a surprising new take on a 500-year-old literary and political giant. PLUS Vergil translator and biographer Sarah Ruden (Vergil: The Poet's Life) stops by to discuss her choice for the last book she will ever read. Help support the show at pa...

The Romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) has been called the last person to have read everything. He is also one of the greatest poet-critics in the history of literature, known for works like "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," "Kubla Khan," "Frost at Midnight," and the Biographia Literaria. In this episode, Jacke takes a look at the life and works of this highly influential figure. Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or historyofliterature.com/donate. The History of ...

It's a multi-course literary feast at the History of Literature Podcast! Today we serve up some thoughts on books and the arts from Galileo Galilei; Mike Palindrome and his decades of reading Russian folktale theorist Vladimir Propp; Professor Valeria Sobol (Haunted Empire) and her inquiry into Russian Gothic literature and the "imperial uncanny"; and Vanessa Riley (Island Queen, Queen of Exiles), the Queen of Black Historical Fiction, stops by to tell us about her selection of the last book she...

Virgil (or Vergil) was the most celebrated poet of Ancient Rome - and also one of the most enigmatic. In this episode, Jacke talks to biographer and translator Sarah Ruden about her book Vergil: A Poet's Life. PLUS some thoughts on Charles Darwin's last book, and a chat with acclaimed historian Tom Holland (Pax: War and Peace in Rome's Golden Age) about his choice for the last book he will ever read. Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or historyofliterature.com/donate. The Histor...

Jacke takes a look at the life and works of Romantic poet William Wordsworth (1770-1850). 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 www.thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How do geniuses compose their poetry and prose? Do they carefully and laboriously revise until they achieve perfection? Or does perfection just flow out of them - as it reportedly did for Shakespeare? In this episode, Adhaar Noor Desai (Blotted Lines: Early Modern English Literature and the Poetics of Discomposition) tells Jacke about the discoveries he made when analyzing the manuscripts of Shakespeare and his contemporaries. PLUS Lara Vetter (H.D. (Hilda Dolittle): A Critical Life) discusses h...

We know - or we think we know - what friendship is today, but what did it mean to Dante? In this episode, Jacke travels back to the Middle Ages with Professor Elizabeth Coggeshall (On Amistà: Negotiating Friendship in Dante's Italy) to discuss how Dante and his contemporaries understood the concept of friendship. PLUS Dr. Tara Bynum (Reading Pleasures: Everyday Black Living in Early America) stops by to discuss her choice for the last book she will ever read. Help support the show at patreon....

Many readers today are familiar with the impact that Western countries have had on Africa, as told through the eyes of writers in both Africa and the West. But what about China and its growing influence in Africa? How have twentieth- and twenty-first-century African writers viewed the impact of Chinese businesses and culture on their homeland? In this episode, Jacke talks to NYU professor Duncan M. Yoon about his book China in Twentieth- and Twenty-First Century African Literature, which unpacks...

Few writers have achieved the celebrity of the notorious Romantic poet Lord Byron. But what was he like in private? In this episode, Jacke talks to Andrew Stauffer about his new book, Byron: A Life in Ten Letters. PLUS Jonathan van Belle (Henry at Work: Thoreau on Making a Living) stops by to discuss his choice for the last book he will ever read. Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or historyofliterature.com/donate. The History of Literature Podcast is a member of Lit Hub Radio a...

In 1817 and 1818, the discovery of two sets of Czech manuscripts helped fuel the Czech National Revival, as promoters of Czech nationalism trumpeted these centuries-old works as foundational texts of a national mythology. There was only one problem: they were completely forged. In this episode, Jacke talks to David Cooper about his new book, The Czech Manuscripts: Forgery, Translation, and National Myth, which looks at why people were so eager to fall for this hoax - and what happened when the t...

As far back as Aristotle, plots have been viewed as essential components of long-form narratives. So what happened when Modern novelists like James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, William Faulkner, and Djuna Barnes began turning away from conventional plots? Why did they do this and what were the consequences for their art? In this episode, Jacke talks to Professor Pardis Dabashi about her new book, Losing the Plot: Film and Feeling in the Modern Novel. PLUS Booker Prize-winning author Anne Enright (The ...

James MacManus was a foreign correspondent for The Guardian during a golden era of covering wars in faroff places. In this episode, Jacke talks to James about his career as a journalist, his transition to becoming the managing director of the Times Literary Supplement, and his new novel, Love in a Lost Land, which recalls his experiences covering the war in 1970s Rhodesia. PLUS Peter K. Andersson (Fool: In Search of Henry VIII's Closest Man) discusses his choice for the last book he will ever re...

Philosopher, poet, playwright, science fiction writer, scientist, and celebrity Margaret Cavendish (1623-1673) was a public and publishing sensation. In this episode, Jacke talks to biographer Francesca Peacock about her new book, Pure Wit: The Revolutionary Life of Margaret Cavendish. PLUS Patrick Whitmarsh (Writing Our Extinction: Anthropocene Fiction and Vertical Science) selects his choice for the last book he will ever read. Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or historyoflit...