Writing
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The History of Literature #337 – Oscar Wilde, Ovid, and the Myth of Narcissus (with A. Natasha Joukovsky)
Debut novelist A. Natasha Joukovsky (The Portrait of a Mirror) joins Jacke for a discussion of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, Ovid’s myth of Narcissus, the fascinating power of recursions, and a life lived in the worlds of literature, business, and art. THE PORTRAIT OF A MIRROR is a stunning reinvention of the myth Continue reading
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The History of Literature #333 – Tristram Shandy
It’s the OG of experimental literature! (In English, anyway…) In this episode, Jacke takes a look at the wild and woolly Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne. And in spite of Dr. Johnson’s famous claim that “nothing odd will do long – Tristram Shandy did not last!” we’re still talking about this classic eighteenth-century novel. Who 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 #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 