Episodes

May 27, 2024

610 How to Become Famous (with Cass Sunstein) | My Last Book with Jam…

Why do we read John Keats and not one of his well-regarded peers? Why do some authors disappear into the sands of time - while others, virtually unknown in their day, become posthumous household names? In this episode, Jacke ...

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May 20, 2024

609 Swimming in Paris (with Colombe Schneck) | My Last Book with Pard…

Dear listeners: What kind of life are you living? What's your relationship between your body, mind, and soul? And what can you learn about your deepest self as you get older? In this episode, Jacke talks to award-winning Fren...

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May 16, 2024

608 The Encyclopedia of the Dog (with Jose Vergara) | My Last Book wi…

First published in 1980, Between Dog and Wolf by Sasha Sokolov is one of the most acclaimed Russian novels of the twentieth century. But the book, with its dazzling wordplay, shifting-sand narration, and other literary pyrote...

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May 13, 2024

607 Upton Sinclair and the Muckraking Novelist (with Adelle Waldman) …

Can novelists make a difference in the world? Of course we know they can - we've seen plenty of examples. But how does it happen? And what are the challenges a twenty-first century novelist might face when hoping to bring abo...

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May 6, 2024

606 Love, Loss, and Literature (with Sophie Ratcliffe)

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...

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May 2, 2024

605 Tove Jansson, Creator of the Moomins (with Boel Westin)

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, illustr...

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April 29, 2024

604 How Russian Literature Became Great (with Rolf Hellebust) | My La…

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 R...

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April 22, 2024

603 Rethinking Ralph Waldo Emerson (with James Marcus)

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, autho...

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April 18, 2024

602 Thomas Hardy's "Spellbound Palace," The Birthplace of the King Ja…

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 C...

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April 15, 2024

601 Thomas Hardy (with Margot Livesey)

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...

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April 8, 2024

600 Doctor Johnson! (with Phil Jones) | A Very Special My Last Book (…

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 J...

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April 4, 2024

599 Alejandro Jodorowsky, Filmmaker and Philosopher (with William Egg…

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 Fl...

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April 1, 2024

598 Forgotten Women of Literature 8 - Charmian Kittredge London (with…

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 bi...

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March 25, 2024

597 Karl Ove Knausgaard (with Bob Blaisdell) | My Last Book with Nich…

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 aut...

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March 18, 2024

596 The Power of Stories (with J. Edward Chamberlin) | Taylor Swift a…

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...

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March 11, 2024

595 Machiavelli (with Gabriele Pedulla) | My Last Book with Sarah Rud…

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 Bo...

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March 4, 2024

594 Samuel Taylor Coleridge

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 An...

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Feb. 26, 2024

593 Vladimir Propp (with Mike Palindrome) | The Russian Gothic (with …

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 Vladimi...

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Feb. 19, 2024

592 Virgil (with Sarah Ruden) | Darwin and Gaskell | My Last Book wit…

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 thou...

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Feb. 12, 2024

591 William Wordsworth

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...

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Feb. 8, 2024

590 Blotted Lines (with Adhaar Noor Desai) | My Last Book with Lara V…

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 ...

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Feb. 5, 2024

589 Dante and Friendship (with Elizabeth Coggeshall) | My Last Book w…

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'...

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Feb. 1, 2024

588 China in African Literature (with Duncan Yoon) | My Last Book wit…

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 tw...

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Jan. 29, 2024

587 Byron's Letters (with Andrew Stauffer) | My Last Book with Jonath…

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 Jonat...

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