The History of Literature #430 – In Shakespeare’s Shadow (with Michael Blanding)

August 9, 2022August 1, 2022 ~ jackewilson ~ Leave a comment

https://open.spotify.com/episode/0hd6rJHmhnVn6t9BX37lJP?si=a8abd777ae184061

It’s a paradox that has bothered Shakespeare’s fans for centuries: the man was as insightful into human beings as anyone whoever lived, and yet his own life is barely documented. This combination of literary genius plus biographical uncertainty has spun off a number of mysteries – including the question of how exactly Shakespeare came to know the things that he did.

In this episode, Jacke talks to investigative journalist Michael Blanding, author of In Shakespeare’s Shadow, about a renegade scholar named Dennis McCarthy’s theory that Shakespeare may have drawn upon a previously unknown source – the lost plays of Sir Thomas North – and how Blanding himself joined the pursuit of searching for evidence to support McCarthy’s theory.

Additional listening suggestions:

Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or historyofliterature.com/shop. The History of Literature Podcast is a member of Lit Hub Radio and the Podglomerate Network. Learn more at www.thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature.

The History of Literature #360 – FMK Shakespeare! (with Laurie Frankel) | Tolstoy’s Gospel (with Scott Carter)

March 20, 2022March 1, 2022 ~ jackewilson ~ Leave a comment

It’s a good day for cooking! First up: Scott Carter, author of the play Discord: The Gospel According to Thomas Jefferson, Charles Dickens, and Count Leo Tolstoy, joins Jacke for a look at the gospel as updated by Leo Tolstoy. Then novelist Laurie Frankel (author of One Two Three) stops by for a special Shakespeare game. Hope you enjoy!

The History of Literature #333 – Tristram Shandy

August 11, 2021August 5, 2021 ~ jackewilson ~ Leave a comment

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 was Sterne? What rules did he break? And what power does it have for a reader today?

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 @literatureSC. Or send an email to jackewilsonauthor@gmail.com.

New!!! Looking for an easy to way to buy Jacke a coffee? Now you can at paypal.me/jackewilson. Your generosity is much appreciated!

The History of Literature Podcast is a member of Lit Hub Radio and the Podglomerate Network. Learn more at www.thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature.

The History of Literature #269 Shakespeare and the Generation of Genius (with Robin Lithgow)

January 30, 2021January 18, 2021 ~ jackewilson ~ Leave a comment

Robin Lithgow spent her life immersed in the performing arts, including a childhood in the theater and decades spent as an educator and arts administrator. But it wasn’t until she read a little-known work by Erasmus that she fully realized the importance that performance had on Shakespeare and his generation–which mirrored the experiences she had had as an English and drama teacher in inner-city schools in Los Angeles. In this special episode, Robin joins Jacke to talk about her life in the theater, her epiphanies regarding Shakespeare’s education, and the centrality of the performing arts in a child’s development.

ROBIN LITHGOW was the first Theatre Adviser, and eventually the Director, of the Arts Education Branch of the Los Angeles Unified School District, the second largest school district in the United States. Before becoming an arts administrator, she was a teacher for twenty-one years, teaching every grade level from kindergarten through senior high school and ending her classroom tenure as an English and drama teacher. And before that, she was the daughter of Arthur Lithgow, a theater impresario who developed Shakespeare festivals all over Ohio, which meant that Robin and her younger brother John Lithgow, the acclaimed actor, grew up traveling from place to place, watching rehearsals and performances, as their father mounted productions of every play in the Shakespearean canon.

New!!! Looking for an easy to way to buy Jacke a coffee? Now you can at paypal.me/jackewilson. Your generosity is much appreciated!

The History of Literature Podcast is a member of Lit Hub Radio and the Podglomerate Network. Learn more at www.thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature.

The History of Literature #265 Forgotten Women of Literature 3 – Aemilia Lanyer

January 26, 2021January 26, 2021 ~ jackewilson ~ 2 Comments

The “Forgotten Women of Literature” series continues with a look at Aemilia Bassano Lanyer (1569-1645), the first Englishwoman to publish a volume of poetry, the protofeminist Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum, which tells the story of Christ’s crucifixion from a woman’s perspective. In addition to her many accomplishments and incredible life story, Lanyer has tantalizingly close connections to William Shakespeare, leading Jacke (and other scholars) to speculation about whether she might have been the inspiration for the Dark Lady of Shakespeare’s sonnets.

New!!! Looking for an easy to way to buy Jacke a coffee? Now you can at paypal.me/jackewilson. Your generosity is much appreciated!

The History of Literature Podcast is a member of Lit Hub Radio and the Podglomerate Network. Learn more at www.thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature.

The History of Literature #259 Shakespeare’s Best | Sonnets 129 and 130 (“Th’expense of spirit in a waste of shame” and “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun”)

January 20, 2021January 18, 2021 ~ jackewilson ~ Leave a comment

In the fourth and final installment of A Month of Shakespearean Sonnets, Jacke takes a look at two sonnets from the Dark Lady sequence, Sonnet 129 (“Th’expense of spirit in a waste of shame”) and Sonnet 130 (“My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun”). Listen to the Shakespeare whom poet Don Paterson described as giving us “a terrific display of self-directed fury, raging away in the little cage of the sonnet like a spitting wildcat.”

New!!! Looking for an easy to way to buy Jacke a coffee? Now you can at paypal.me/jackewilson. Your generosity is much appreciated!

The History of Literature Podcast is a member of Lit Hub Radio and the Podglomerate Network. Learn more at www.thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature.

The History of Literature #257 Shakespeare’s Best | Sonnet 116 (“Let me not to the marriage of true minds”)

January 18, 2021 ~ jackewilson ~ Leave a comment

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 for readers today?

The History of Literature Podcast is a member of the Podglomerate Network. Learn more at www.thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature.

The History of Literature #253 – Shakespeare’s Best | Sonnet 18 (“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”)

October 9, 2020August 29, 2020 ~ jackewilson ~ Leave a comment

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 Shakespeare’s greatest. Can it still be read today? And if so, what does it have to offer us?

Help support the show at www.patreon.com/literature or www.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 @literatureSC. Or send an email to jackewilsonauthor@gmail.com.

The History of Literature Podcast is a member of the Podglomerate Network. Learn more at www.thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature.

The History of Literature #228 – England vs France – A Literary Battle Royale

September 18, 2020August 30, 2020 ~ jackewilson ~ Leave a comment

“Our dear enemies,” a French writer once said of the English. Englishman John Cleese called them “our natural enemies” and joked “if we have to fight anyone, I say let’s fight the French.” With the exception of a few big twentieth-century alliances, the French and the English have been at each others’ throats for a thousand years. Occasionally this has meant taking up arms and fighting for land or religion or rule. But what about culture? What if the battlefield were a literary one? What if supremacy was determined not by the sword but by the pen? In this episode, Jacke and Mike choose their sides and get ready to wage a literary battle between two proud, rivalrous, and highly literate nations.

The History of Literature #222 – The Best of the Bard: Top 10 Greatest Lines in Shakespeare

September 12, 2020August 29, 2020 ~ jackewilson ~ Leave a comment

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.

Music Credits:

“Bluesy Vibes Sting” and “Running Fanfare” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Jacke Wilson

Author

Shakespeare

The History of Literature #430 – In Shakespeare’s Shadow (with Michael Blanding)

The History of Literature #360 – FMK Shakespeare! (with Laurie Frankel) | Tolstoy’s Gospel (with Scott Carter)

The History of Literature #333 – Tristram Shandy

The History of Literature #269 Shakespeare and the Generation of Genius (with Robin Lithgow)

The History of Literature #265 Forgotten Women of Literature 3 – Aemilia Lanyer

The History of Literature #259 Shakespeare’s Best | Sonnets 129 and 130 (“Th’expense of spirit in a waste of shame” and “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun”)

The History of Literature #257 Shakespeare’s Best | Sonnet 116 (“Let me not to the marriage of true minds”)

The History of Literature #253 – Shakespeare’s Best | Sonnet 18 (“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”)

The History of Literature #228 – England vs France – A Literary Battle Royale

The History of Literature #222 – The Best of the Bard: Top 10 Greatest Lines in Shakespeare

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