Fiction
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The History of Literature #218 – John Steinbeck
https://open.spotify.com/episode/6UBDGB0IHW4QW4KwRRvgUS?si=ld3nHcqLT6-5SwaELwwLCA John Steinbeck (1902-1968) was an American author known for what the Nobel Committee, who awarded Steinbeck its Prize for Literature in 1962, called “his realistic and imaginative writings, [which combine] sympathetic humor and keen social perception.” Among his 33 books include the novella Of Mice and Men and the novels The Grapes of Wrath… Continue reading
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The History of Literature #217 – Extra by Yiyun Li
Yiyun Li (1972- ) was born in Beijing, China, the daughter of a teacher and a nuclear physicist. She dreamed of studying in America, hoping to escape an oppressive political regime and an unhappy family life. But when she arrived at the University of Iowa at the age of 23, a math prodigy and burgeoning… Continue reading
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The History of Literature #215 – Kate Chopin
From within the quarantine, Jacke travels to 1893 and the Louisiana bayou, where he finds Kate Chopin, pioneering feminist and author of the classic novel The Awakening, writing her short story “Desiree’s Baby,” in which a woman in love struggles against the racial prejudice of the antebellum South. Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or… Continue reading
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The History of Literature #214 – Kipling, Kingsley, and Conan Doyle – When Writers Go to War
In early 1900, the paths of three British writers – Rudyard Kipling, Mary Kingsley, and Arthur Conan Doyle – crossed in South Africa, during what has become known as Britain’s last imperial war. In this episode, Sarah LeFanu, author of the new book Something of Themselves: Kipling, Kingsley, Conan Doyle and the Anglo-Boer War, joins… Continue reading
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The History of Literature #213 – Special Quarantine Edition – Gusev by Anton Chekhov
More bonus content! For those of you living in isolation (and those of you who aren’t), Jacke explores the depths of the human condition – as well as its ultimate beauty – with the help of Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) and his short story masterpiece, “Gusev.” Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or historyofliterature.com/shop. (We appreciate… Continue reading
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The History of Literature #212 – Special Quarantine Edition – Pale Horse, Pale Rider by Katherine Anne Porter
As the world deals with a pandemic, we turn to one of America’s greatest (and least appreciated) writers, Katherine Anne Porter, and her masterpiece, Pale Horse, Pale Rider, a short novel that tells the story of Miranda, a newspaper woman who falls ill during the 1918 flu pandemic (also known as the “Spanish flu”), and… Continue reading
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The History of Literature #211 – Edith Wharton
“There are only three or four American novelists who can be thought of as ‘major’,” said Gore Vidal. “And Edith Wharton is one.” In this episode, Jacke and Mike take a look at the life and works of Edith Wharton (1862-1937), author of The Age of Innocence and The House of Mirth, with a special… Continue reading
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The History of Literature #207 – Agatha Christie (with Gillian Gill)
Agatha Christie is one of the most successful writers of all time – it’s often said that sales of Christie’s books are surpassed only by Shakespeare and the Bible. But who was Agatha Christie? What was she like before she became famous? And what exactly happened during those infamous two weeks, when she disappeared from… Continue reading
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The History of Literature #206 – Karl Ove Knausgaard
http://traffic.megaphone.fm/ADL5490616168.mp3 Since the publication of the first volume of his massive novel Mein Kampf (or My Struggle) in 2009, Karl Ove Knausgaard (1968- ) has become a household name in his native Norway – and a loved and hated literary figure around the world. Thanks to that six-volume book, plus another four-volume work titled after the four seasons,… Continue reading
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The History of Literature #205 – Saul Bellow
http://traffic.megaphone.fm/ADL9010183183.mp3 Saul Bellow (1915-2005) was born in Quebec, immigrated to Chicago, and became one of the greatest of the great American novelists. In 1976 he won the Nobel Prize for writing that displayed “the mixture of rich picaresque novel and subtle analysis of our culture, of entertaining adventure, drastic and tragic episodes in quick succession… Continue reading
Jacke Wilson 