Podcast
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The History of Literature #257 Shakespeare’s Best | Sonnet 116 (“Let me not to the marriage of true minds”)
Continuing the “Shakespeare on Thursdays” theme for August, Jacke takes a look at Sonnet 116 (“Let me not to the marriage of true minds”), another one of Shakespeare’s most beloved and well known sonnets. What does the poem say about love? How does it fit into the world of weddings? And what does it have… Continue reading
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The History of Literature #256 – T.S. Eliot | The Waste Land
In 1922, T.S. Eliot (1888-1965), an American living in England, published The Waste Land, widely viewed as perhaps the greatest and most iconic poem of the twentieth century. Virginia Woolf recognized its power immediately, praising it for its “great beauty and force of phrase: symmetry and tensity.” And yet, as nearly a hundred years’ worth… Continue reading
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The History of Literature #255 – Shakespeare’s Best | Sonnet 29 (“When in disgrace with Fortune and men’s eyes”)
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0AZxQLzFhKD5QuN5VvzeQF Hello August! Hello world! Hey world, you’ve kicked us around long enough – it’s time for us to return to our former glory! Jacke takes a look at the fourteen-line misery-jealousy-recovery-triumph story of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 29 (“When in disgrace in Fortune and men’s eyes”). Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or historyofliterature.com/shop. (We appreciate it!) Find out… Continue reading
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The History of Literature #254 – Anna Karenina
In 1870, the 42-year-old Russian author Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) told his wife that he “wanted to write a novel about the fall of a society woman in the highest Petersburg circles, and…to tell the story of the woman and her fall without condemning her.” The result was his novel Anna Karenina (1877), which is widely… Continue reading
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The History of Literature #253 – Shakespeare’s Best | Sonnet 18 (“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”)
https://open.spotify.com/episode/32fpGZBESW7aQZIe11UqOI What did Shakespeare do when the bubonic plague shut down London’s theaters? Apparently he wrote poetry instead, including some or all of his 154 sonnets. In this episode, Jacke takes a look at Sonnet 18 (“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day”) to see whether the poem deserves its reputation as one of… Continue reading
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The History of Literature #251 – Beatrix Potter
Beatrix Potter (1866-1943) was a naturalist, a conservationist, and a highly successful children’s book author and illustrator, whose stories of Peter Rabbit and other anthropomorphized animals have sold more than 150 million copies in at least 35 languages. But who was Beatrix Potter? What kind of childhood did she have? How did she, as an… Continue reading
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The History of Literature #250 – The Brothers Karamazov
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4I9rpwfcXCYz0cJWzT6Gwv Responding to a special request from a listener, Jacke discusses Fyodor Dostoevsky, his novel The Brothers Karamazov, and the search for meaning in a meaningless world. Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or historyofliterature.com/shop. (We appreciate it!) Find out more at historyofliterature.com, jackewilson.com, or by following Jacke and Mike on Twitter at @thejackewilson and… Continue reading
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The History of Literature #249 – Stendhal
In this episode, Jacke takes a look at the life and works of French author Stendhal (1783-1842), whose innovative novels The Red and the Black and The Charterhouse of Parma made him one of the greatest and most influential novelists of all time. Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or historyofliterature.com/shop. (We appreciate it!) Find… Continue reading
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The History of Literature #248 – The History of Literature Presents: Storybound (with Mitchell S. Jackson)
The History of Literature presents some content from another Podglomerate podcast, Storybound. In this episode from Storybound’s first season, author Mitchell S. Jackson reads from his memoir, Survival Math: Notes on an All-American Family, with sound design and original music composed by Zane featuring Stephanie Strange. STORYBOUND is a radio theater program designed for the… Continue reading
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The History of Literature #247 – Raymond Carver (with Tom Perrotta)
Novelist and screenwriter Tom Perrotta joins Jacke for a discussion of his blue collar New Jersey background, the cultural shock of attending Yale University, and the profound impact that Raymond Carver’s first collection of short stories, Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?, had on him as an aspiring young writer trying to find his place… Continue reading
Jacke Wilson 