books
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The History of Literature #159 – Herman Melville
http://traffic.megaphone.fm/ADL9179456128.mp3 Today, Herman Melville (1819-1891) is considered one of the greatest of American writers, and a leading candidate for THE American novelist thanks to his classic work, Moby-Dick. How did this unpromising student become one of the most inventive and observant writers of his time? What obstacles did he face, and what did he do… Continue reading
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The History of Literature #158 – “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien
http://traffic.megaphone.fm/ADL3236940460.mp3 In the 1960s and ’70s, the Vietnam War dominated the hearts and minds of a generation of Americans. In 1990, the American writer Tim O’Brien, himself a former soldier, published “The Things They Carried,” a short story that became an instant classic. Through its depiction of the members of a platoon in Vietnam, told… Continue reading
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The History of Literature #157 – Travel Books (with Mike Palindrome)
http://traffic.megaphone.fm/ADL1955560639.mp3 “The world is a book,” said Augustine, “and those who do not travel read only one page.” But what about books ABOUT traveling? Do they double the pleasure? Transport us to a different place? Inspire and enchant? Or are they more like a forced march through someone else’s interminable photo album? Mike Palindrome, President… Continue reading
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The History of Literature #156 – The Sonnet
http://traffic.megaphone.fm/ADL3663385565.mp3 “A sonnet,” said the poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti, “is a moment’s monument.” But who invented the sonnet? Who brought it to prominence? How has it changed over the years? And why does this form continue to be so compelling? In this episode of the History of Literature, we take a brief look at one… Continue reading
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The History of Literature #155 – Plato
http://traffic.megaphone.fm/ADL3663385565.mp3 “The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition,” said Alfred North Whitehead, “is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato.” We’ve all heard the name of Plato and his famous mentor Socrates, and most of us have encountered the dialogues, a literary-philosophical form he essentially invented. We know the… Continue reading
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The History of Literature #154 – John Milton
http://traffic.megaphone.fm/ADL4902521222.mp3 John Milton (1608 – 1674) was a revolutionary, a republican, an iconoclast, a reformer, and a brilliant polemicist, who fearlessly took on both church and king. And he ranks among the greatest poets of all time, a peer of Shakespeare and Homer. Philip Pullman, the author who named his trilogy (His Dark Materials) after… Continue reading
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The History of Literature #153 – Charles Dickens
http://traffic.megaphone.fm/ADL7087645759.mp3 Charles John Huffam Dickens (1812-1870) was the greatest novelist of the Victorian age. In his 58 years he went from a hardscrabble childhood to a world-famous author, beloved and admired for his unforgettable characters, his powers of observation and empathy, and his championing of the lower classes. He wrote 15 novels, five novellas, hundreds… Continue reading
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The History of Literature #152 – George Sand
http://traffic.megaphone.fm/ADL6745135714.mp3 George Sand wrote an astonishing number of novels and plays, and had friendships and affairs with an astonishing range of men and women. She dressed in men’s clothing, and she inspired a host of 19th century authors and artists, including Russian writers like Turgenev and Dostoevsky and British writers like Mary Ann Evans, who… Continue reading
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The History of Literature #151 – Viking Poetry – The Voluspa (with Noah Tetzner)
http://traffic.megaphone.fm/ADL8697090331.mp3 The Vikings! Sure, they had helmets and hammers, but did they also have… poetry? Indeed they did! In this episode, we talk to Noah Tetzner, host of The History of Vikings Podcast, about the collection of Old Norse verses called the Poetic Edda – and in particular, we look at the first of these, the… Continue reading
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The History of Literature #150 – Chekhov’s “The Lady with the Little Dog”
http://traffic.megaphone.fm/ADL4067569493.mp3 It’s a deceptively simple story: a man and a woman meet, have an affair, are separated, and reunite. And yet, in writing about Anton Chekhov’s story, “The Lady with the Little Dog” (1899), Vladimir Nabokov said, “All the traditional rules have been broken in this wonderful short story…. No problem, no regular climax, no… Continue reading
Jacke Wilson 