Short story

The History of Literature #234 – Alice Munro | The Love of a Good Woman

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“She is our Chekhov,” said Cynthia Ozick, “and she is going to outlast most of her contemporaries.” Ozick was talking about the great Alice Munro, the Canadian writer whose short stories about ordinary women and men have garnered every literary prize imaginable. In this episode, the first of three Alice Munro Week special episodes, Jacke introduces Part One of Munro’s masterpiece of a novella, “The Love of a Good Woman.”

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.

Music Credits:

“Et Voila” and “Long Stroll” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

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

The History of Literature #219 – After Rain by William Trevor

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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 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.

The History of Literature #213 – Special Quarantine Edition – Gusev by Anton Chekhov

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More bonus content! For those of you living in isolation (and those of you who aren’t), Jacke explores the depths of the human condition – as well as its ultimate beauty – with the help of Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) and his short story masterpiece, “Gusev.”

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.

The History of Literature #123 – James Joyce’s The Dead (part 1)

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Happy holidays! In this special two-part episode, host Jacke Wilson takes a look at a story that he can’t stop thinking about: James Joyce’s masterpiece “The Dead.” How does it work? Why is it so good? And why does it resonate so deeply with Jacke? We tackle all that and more.

Help support the show at patreon.com/literature. Learn more about the show at historyofliterature.com. Contact the host at jackewilsonauthor@gmail.com.

FOR A LIMITED TIME: Special holiday news! Now for a limited time, you can purchase History of Literature swag (mugs, tote bags, and “virtual coffees” for Jacke) at historyofliterature.com/shop. Get yours today!

It’s The Jacke Wilson Show! Episode 6 – A Boy Named Johnnie

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ONE…ONE ONE…ONE ONE… IT’S THE JACKE WILSON SHOW!!!!!

Holiday episode! Jacke surrenders to some seasonal melancholy and shares a story of his Grampa Johnnie, a Hungarian-American boy growing up in early-twentieth-century Wisconsin, where the forests were thick, the rivers were deep and fast, and life was rougher around the edges.

Hope you enjoy the show!

You can stream the show here:

Or directly download the mp3 file: The Jacke Wilson Show 1.6 – A Boy Named Johnnie

You can also find previous episodes at our Podcast page.

And subscribe to the whole series at iTunes by following this link:

SUBSCRIBE TO THE JACKE WILSON SHOW ON ITUNES

Let me know what you think! Thank you for listening! Continue reading →

It’s The Jacke Wilson Show! Episode 5 – The Gift

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ONE…ONE ONE…ONE ONE… IT’S THE JACKE WILSON SHOW!!!!!

Hmm, Episode 5 is shorter than usual. Maybe because I had TWO embarrassing vacuum cleaner stories and I only told ONE of them. I’ll have to save it for the Director’s Cut edition. It’s one of the cardinal rules of professional podcasting: do not tell two embarrassing household-appliance stories in the same episode of a podcast. You could look it up.

What we DO have is a quick look at the Dubliners series, some thoughts about Not Knowing What To Say, and a proto-Object “The Gift.” And some (hopefully) improved sound quality, as I figure out exactly what the hell I’m doing. If you’re like me, you shrink from the overly packaged. You like things a little RAW. Well, that’s what you’re going to get. Not sleek. Not clean. Not gleaming. Raw. Ragged. Broken.

Hope you enjoy the show!

You can stream the show here:

Or directly download the mp3 file: The Jacke Wilson Show 1.5 – The Gift

You can also find previous episodes at our Podcast page.

And subscribe to the whole series at iTunes by following this link:

SUBSCRIBE TO THE JACKE WILSON SHOW ON ITUNES

Let me know what you think! Thank you for listening! Continue reading →

It’s The Jacke Wilson Show! Episode 4 – The Worst Thing I Ever Did (Part Two)

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ONE…ONE ONE…ONE ONE… IT’S THE JACKE WILSON SHOW!!!!!

Episode 4 is here! I’m back to my four a.m. silent-house stage whisper. You didn’t think that afternoon voice would last forever, did you? Luckily I have a good microphone and an up-close personality. Or you can use it as white noise, to drift away to dreamland. I’m good either way.

In this episode we wrap up our look at “The Worst Thing I’ve Ever Done” and veer into my psychological battle with my old officemate, the “real” Jerry Seinfeld, which might be the worst thing I’ve ever done, or maybe it’s the worst thing for him. (The Blood Cake (A History of Jacke in 100 Objects #3)) for those keeping score.) And we look at Christmas in Munich, give a quick shoutout to Little Pickle Press, preview a forthcoming guest (I’m working on it!), describe some night-time country-road driving (and an encounter with some UFOs), and detail the time my big sister invented a language and I struggled to keep up. Disasters everywhere. Ah well. It’s the Jacke Wilson Way.

You can stream the show here:

 

Or directly download the mp3 file: The Jacke Wilson Show 1.4 – The Worst Thing I Ever Did (Part Two)

You can also find previous episodes at our Podcast page.

And subscribe to the whole series at iTunes by following this link:

SUBSCRIBE TO THE JACKE WILSON SHOW ON ITUNES

Let me know what you think! Thank you for listening! Continue reading →

It’s The Jacke Wilson Show! Episode 3 – The Worst Thing I Ever Did (Part One)

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ONE…ONE ONE…ONE ONE… IT’S THE JACKE WILSON SHOW!!!!!

Oh, people! Episode 3 of THE JACKE WILSON SHOW is now available! This one is full of heartbreak and agony. Yes, that’s right, it’s The Worst Thing I Ever Did… confessions of real-life people as submitted by you, the readers. Also includes A History of Jacke in 100 Objects #15, The Coffepot, about what might be the worst thing I ever did. Let’s share the pain!

(We ran out of room on this one, so we had to stop. Plenty more worst things coming in Part Two. It seems our cup overfloweth with longing and regret here at the Jacke Blog.)

Oh, and I have a happy story sprinkled into the mix. We needed something to cut the misery!

Do you have a Worst Thing I Ever Did to share? Let us know! You can leave a comment or send me an email at jackewilsonauthor@gmail.com. Anonymity strictly preserved. (Read more about our call for The Worst Thing I Ever Did at our previous post. We’re not just going for confessions – we’re exploring why we think these are the worst.)

Enjoy the show!

Download the mp3 file: The Jacke Wilson Show 1.3 – The Worst Thing I Ever Did (Part One)

Getting better, I hope! You can also find previous episodes at our Podcast page.

And subscribe to the whole series at iTunes by following this link:

SUBSCRIBE TO THE JACKE WILSON SHOW ON ITUNES

Let me know what you think! Thank you for listening! Continue reading →

Back To School Day 2 – Coaching the Only Girl

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To catch you up:

And today, we feature Object # 17 – The Shirts and Skins. The story is about what happens when a single girl plays in an all boys’ league – one that routinely divides up and goes shirts-and-skins. I was her coach; what she told me was a total surprise. But there are many layers of shame going on before we even get to that:  Continue reading →

A History of Jacke in 100 Objects #24 – The Rope

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rope

I didn’t like my new boss much. On my first day he had me scraping tar off the inside walls of his truck, ten hours in a hot, enclosed space breathing in noxious odors. The second day he blasted “beer farts” all the way to Skokie and back, and I had to sit next to him pretending not to be disgusted. On Wednesday I jumped in the truck and nearly passed out from the toxic chemical smell that greeted me.

“It’s heavy duty paint we got back there,” he explained. “Heavy. Duty.” He narrowed his eyes. “As in, not legal in some states. If you know what I mean.” Continue reading →