History of Literature Episode 37 – Great Literary Duos

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What makes a great literary duo? Two authors inspiring one another? Two characters who fall in love? Best friends? Rivals? Host Jacke Wilson is joined by the President of the Literature of the Supporters Club to discuss. Jacke and Mike also respond to a listener question about building a World Literature syllabus. But first, Jacke draws upon some listener feedback to take a look at the condition America’s condition is in. What kind of country gives a goldfish plastic surgery?

This episode is dedicated to a certain special someone. Thank you, Mr. Hot Wing.

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Works Discussed:

The Life of Samuel Johnson by James Boswell

The Arabian Nights

Moon Palace by Paul Auster

Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights by Salman Rushdie

Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie

The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende

Blow-Up and Other Stories by Julio Cortazar

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

The Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante

The Neopolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante

Zadig by Voltaire

The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer

The Decameron by Boccaccio

Orientalism by Edward Said

Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

“The Thousand and One Nights” by Jorge Luis Borges

Tender Is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi

Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie

“The Thousand-and-Second Tale of Sheherezade” by Edgar Allen Poe

The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow

The Aubrey-Maturin Series by Patrick O’Brian

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

You can find more literary discussion at jackewilson.com and more episodes of the series at historyofliterature.com.

Contact the host at jackewilsonauthor@gmail.com or by leaving a voicemail at 1-361-4WILSON (1-361-494-5766).

Music Credits:

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

“Sweeter Vermouth” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Sneak Preview: What Goes With Rushdie?

Okay, time for an update! We have another podcast episode posting tomorrow morning. I’ll be joined by the President of the Literature Supporters Club to discuss great literary duos. Don’t miss it!

We’ll also be discussing this question from brilliant listener EF, a college-level instructor:

I’ve just inherited a ten-week World Literature course, with Salman Rushdie’s new novel Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Days as the primary text.

Aside from the obvious (Arabian Nights), if you were teaching the course, what would you pair with that reading?

Great question! We’ll have some answers for her tomorrow.

But I’m interested in your thoughts too. What works go on the syllabus? What are the obvious ones… and what’s unexpected? What themes should she and the students explore?

Onward and upward, people…onward and upward!