Podcast
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The History of Literature #164 – Karl Marx
http://traffic.megaphone.fm/ADL7610977492.mp3 Karl Marx (1818-1883) turned his early interest in literature and philosophy into a lifelong study of the socioeconomic forces unleashed by the rise of capitalism. His works The Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital, among others, influenced the course of the twentieth century like few others. But who was Karl Marx? How did his ideas become so widespread?… Continue reading
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The History of Literature #163 – Gabriel García Márquez (with Sarah Bird)
http://traffic.megaphone.fm/ADL5528223655.mp3 In this episode, Jacke welcomes author Sarah Bird to the program to talk about her background, her writing, and her readerly passion for the fiction of the great twentieth-century novelist, Gabriel García Márquez. GABRIEL GARCÍA MÁRQUEZ (1927-2014) was one of the most revered and influential novelists of the twentieth century. Born in a small… Continue reading
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162 Ernest Hemingway
http://traffic.megaphone.fm/ADL5052941823.mp3 Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) was one of the most famous American writers of the twentieth century. His plain, economical prose style–inspired by journalism and the King James Bible, with an assist from the Cezannes he viewed in Gertrude Stein’s apartment–became a hallmark of modernism and changed the course of American literature. In this episode, Jacke… Continue reading
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161 Voltaire
http://traffic.megaphone.fm/ADL9193713738.mp3 Voltaire was born Francois Marie Arouet in 1694 in Paris, France, the son of a respectable but not particularly eminent lawyer. By the time he died at the age of 83, he was widely regarded as one of the greatest French writers in history, a distinction he still holds today. Astoundingly prolific, he is… Continue reading
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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 #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 #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
Jacke Wilson 