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The History of Literature #224 – Albert Camus
Albert Camus (1913-1960) was born in Algeria to French parents. After his father died in World War I, when Albert was still an infant, the family was reduced to impoverished circumstances, forced to move in with relatives in an apartment without electricity or running water. From these humble beginnings, Camus went on to become one Continue reading
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The History of Literature #223 – Speech Sounds by Octavia Butler
Imagine a plague that ravages the world and impairs the ability of humans to communicate with one another. What kind of society would we have? Who would take power and how would they hold it? What would the world be like for the powerless? How would children adapt and survive? In “Speech Sounds,” Octavia E. Continue reading
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The History of Literature #222 – The Best of the Bard: Top 10 Greatest Lines in Shakespeare
When was The Bard at his best? How great did the GOAT get? Hall-of-fame guest Mike Palindrome, the President of the Literature Supporters Club, joins Jacke for a discussion of the Top 10 Greatest Lines of Shakespeare. 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 #221 – The Distance of the Moon by Italo Calvino | The African Library Project
Another special quarantine edition! In this action-packed episode, Jacke talks to Robyn Speed and Tatiana Santos of the African Library Project (africanlibraryproject.org), an organization that has helped create or improve more than three thousand libraries in Africa. He then turns to the great Italo Calvino and his short story masterpiece, “The Distance of the Moon” Continue reading
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The History of Literature #220 – A Lost Spring (with Professor Mitchell Nathanson)
Professor Mitchell Nathanson, author of Jim Bouton: The Life of a Baseball Original, joins Jacke for a discussion of athletes, heroes, and A.E. Housman. Why do we celebrate athletes? How do we view them when their athleticism fades? And what does it all mean? We’ll look at the problems of male vulnerability, the groundbreaking work Continue reading
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The History of Literature #219 – After Rain by William Trevor
William Trevor was born in Ireland in 1928. When he was 26, he moved to England, where for the next 62 years he quietly became one of the most celebrated writers in the English-speaking world. In today’s History of Literature episode, Jacke takes a look at one of his greatest short stories, “After Rain.” Help Continue reading
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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 #216 – The Trials of Phillis Wheatley
In 1773, Phillis Wheatley became the first person of African descent to publish a book of poems in the English language. It was yet another milestone in Wheatley’s extraordinary life, which began with a childhood in Africa, a passage on a slave ship, twelve years in Boston living as a slave, and then her unprecedented 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
Jacke Wilson 