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Sneak Preview: The Chinese Classic of Poetry
Hello everyone! This week we’ll be taking a look at the Shi Jing, or Classic of Poetry. It’s our first work from China on the History of Literature podcast. The above image depicts the first poem in the collection: how gorgeous is that? I love the combination of a beautifully rendered poem and the serenity of Chinese Continue reading
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Are Chain Bookstores Doomed? Or Just Stupid? The U.K. Shows the U.S. How It’s Done
Have you been to a Barnes and Noble lately? It looks like a record shop, a toy store, an arts supplies store, an…ehhh, I don’t know what. I know what you’re thinking. Well, Jacke, can you blame them? Look how besieged they are! Look what happened to the indies! Look what happened to Borders! Let’s Continue reading
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Little Black Dress? Yes. Little Black Penguin Classics? Also Yes!
Some things are so classy they just never go out of style. Like little black dresses, and little black classics from Penguin Books. Here’s another gift idea for this holiday season (along with Edward Gorey). Eighty Penguin Classics, presented in bite-sized form (i.e., novellas, short essays, selections of poems, or excerpted passages from longer books). Continue reading
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Paul McCartney Is Number One (Cue Backlash)
Poor Paul. If you’ve been around the blog for a while, you know my affection for the guy. It’s so easy to like John and George and Ringo. Paul? Everyone wants to take a stance on him, and by that I mean to take a stance against him and his music. Too sappy! Too sweet! Continue reading
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History of Literature Episode 7 – Greek Comedy – Aristophanes
Author Jacke Wilson examines the life and works of Aristophanes, whose comic plays included The Clouds, which pokes fun at philosophers such as Socrates, and Lysistrata, where the females of Athens and Sparta go on a sex strike in an attempt to end the war. Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 45:04 — 31.2MB) Subscribe: iTunes | Continue reading
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Sneak Preview: Aristophanes and More
Well hello there! It’s Sunday, and that means sneak preview day here on the Jacke Blog. On Monday, we’ll take a look at the comic plays of Aristophanes on the History of Literature podcast. What did that comedic pioneer actually invent? What were his satirical targets and how well does the satire hold up? And the Continue reading
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We Don’t Need The Onion Anymore…
I read things like this NYT description of Faerie Magazine and just…well… scratch my head in wonder… ‘‘Faeries, come take me out of this dull world,’’ wrote W.B. Yeats, ‘‘for I would ride with you upon the wind.’’ Had Yeats read an issue of Faerie Magazine, he might have found what he was yearning for: Continue reading
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The Man In the High Castle – Best Title Sequence Ever?
I’m three episodes into Amazon’s The Man in the High Castle, a new series based on a book of the same name by Philip K. Dick. I’m enjoying the alternative history aspects of the drama – it takes place in the 60s and imagines that Hitler’s Germany won the war (they got the A bomb Continue reading
Jacke Wilson 