Writing
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The History of Literature #246 – Giovanni Boccaccio | The Decameron
As the Black Death swept through the city of Florence, Italian poet and scholar Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375) began writing his classic tale of survival and revelry. The Decameron (1349-1353) tells the story of ten individuals who have retreated to a country villa to avoid the disease. While in this state of self-quarantine, they embark upon… Continue reading
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The History of Literature #245 – Joyce Carol Oates (with Evie Lee)
Friend of the podcast Evie Lee joins Jacke to take a look at Joyce Carol Oates’s classic short story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” (1966). NOTE TO LISTENERS: This episode contains disturbing descriptions of an attempted abduction by a serial killer. Please exercise discretion in deciding whether to listen. Help support the… Continue reading
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The History of Literature #244 – Alexandre Dumas
Jacke takes a look at the astonishing story of Alexandre Dumas, author of The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo, whose own father (who was born into slavery before becoming a four-star general in Napoleon’s army) led a life as adventurous as any fictional character. Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or historyofliterature.com/shop.… Continue reading
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The History of Literature #243 – Keeping Secrets! Boris Pasternak, Doctor Zhivago, and the CIA (with Lara Prescott)
Author Lara Prescott joins Jacke to talk about her novel The Secrets We Kept, which is based on the incredible but true story of the CIA’s efforts to use a novel (Boris Pasternak’s Doctor Zhivago) as part of its Cold War battle against the Soviet Union. LARA PRESCOTT is the author of The Secrets We… Continue reading
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The History of Literature #242 – William Faulkner | Dry September
The fourth part of a three-part episode run! Jacke takes the advice of a listener and adds William Faulkner’s “Dry September” (1931) to the Baldwin-Faulkner consideration. NOTE FOR LISTENERS: This story (and our discussion of it) contains disturbing references to sexual violence, racial slurs, and race-based hate crimes. Please exercise discretion in listening or playing… Continue reading
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The History of Literature #241 – Literary Battle Royale 2 – The Cold war (U.S. vs. U.S.S.R.)
Sputnik! Cuba! Glasnost and perestroika! In this follow-up to the very popular England vs. France literary battle royal, Jacke and Mike choose up sides and imagine the Cold War being fought by each nation’s greatest authors. Enjoy! Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or historyofliterature.com/shop. (We appreciate it!) Find out more at historyofliterature.com, jackewilson.com, or… Continue reading
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The History of Literature #240 – More Thoreau | Experiencing Nature (with Nina Shengold)
“We can never get enough of nature,” wrote Henry David Thoreau in 1854. “I suppose that what in other men is religion is in me love of nature.” A century and a half later, author Nina Shengold left her desk behind for her own journey into the natural world, following a plan to walk along… Continue reading
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The History of Literature #239 – Henry David Thoreau | On Civil Disobedience
https://open.spotify.com/episode/7boUr4ST597q22FLFPbBq8?si=QWun84sOTrKe3_fnjrJ0Tg In July of 1846, Henry David Thoreau took a break from his two-year experiment of living in the woods to return to town, where he bumped into a tax collector who promptly had him arrested. For six years, Thoreau had refused to pay his poll tax, believing that the money was being used to… Continue reading
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The History of Literature #238 – The Seven Deadly Sins
As with Santa’s reindeer or Snow White’s seven dwarves, we all know the phrase “Seven Deadly Sins” even if we struggle to remember the exact list. But who came up with this concept? And who decided that Pride, Envy, Wrath, Lust, Sloth, Greed, and Gluttony were the seven qualities deserving of this ignominious honor? In… Continue reading
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The History of Literature #237 – Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke (with Amanda Stern)
In the autumn of 1902, a young man attending a German military school wrote to the poet Rainer Maria Rilke to ask him for some advice. Rilke responded, and the two struck up a correspondence that has become one of the great moments in the history of literature. For more than a century, Rilke’s advice,… Continue reading
Jacke Wilson 