The History of Literature

Virgil (or Vergil) was the most celebrated poet of Ancient Rome - and also one of the most enigmatic. In this episode, Jacke talks to biographer and translator Sarah Ruden about her book Vergil: A Poet's Life. PLUS some thoughts on Charles Darwin's last book, and a chat with acclaimed historian Tom Holland (Pax: War and Peace in Rome's Golden Age) about his choice for the last book he will ever re...

Jacke takes a look at the life and works of Romantic poet William Wordsworth (1770-1850). Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or historyofliterature.com/donate. The History of Literature Podcast is a member of Lit Hub Radio and the Podglomerate Network. Learn more at www.thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How do geniuses compose their poetry and prose? Do they carefully and laboriously revise until they achieve perfection? Or does perfection just flow out of them - as it reportedly did for Shakespeare? In this episode, Adhaar Noor Desai (Blotted Lines: Early Modern English Literature and the Poetics of Discomposition) tells Jacke about the discoveries he made when analyzing the manuscripts of Shake...

We know - or we think we know - what friendship is today, but what did it mean to Dante? In this episode, Jacke travels back to the Middle Ages with Professor Elizabeth Coggeshall (On Amistà: Negotiating Friendship in Dante's Italy) to discuss how Dante and his contemporaries understood the concept of friendship. PLUS Dr. Tara Bynum (Reading Pleasures: Everyday Black Living in Early America) stops...

Many readers today are familiar with the impact that Western countries have had on Africa, as told through the eyes of writers in both Africa and the West. But what about China and its growing influence in Africa? How have twentieth- and twenty-first-century African writers viewed the impact of Chinese businesses and culture on their homeland? In this episode, Jacke talks to NYU professor Duncan M...

Few writers have achieved the celebrity of the notorious Romantic poet Lord Byron. But what was he like in private? In this episode, Jacke talks to Andrew Stauffer about his new book, Byron: A Life in Ten Letters. PLUS Jonathan van Belle (Henry at Work: Thoreau on Making a Living) stops by to discuss his choice for the last book he will ever read. Music Credits: “⁠Handel – Entrance to the Queen of...

In 1817 and 1818, the discovery of two sets of Czech manuscripts helped fuel the Czech National Revival, as promoters of Czech nationalism trumpeted these centuries-old works as foundational texts of a national mythology. There was only one problem: they were completely forged. In this episode, Jacke talks to David Cooper about his new book, The Czech Manuscripts: Forgery, Translation, and Nationa...

As far back as Aristotle, plots have been viewed as essential components of long-form narratives. So what happened when Modern novelists like James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, William Faulkner, and Djuna Barnes began turning away from conventional plots? Why did they do this and what were the consequences for their art? In this episode, Jacke talks to Professor Pardis Dabashi about her new book, Losing...

James MacManus was a foreign correspondent for The Guardian during a golden era of covering wars in faroff places. In this episode, Jacke talks to James about his career as a journalist, his transition to becoming the managing director of the Times Literary Supplement, and his new novel, Love in a Lost Land, which recalls his experiences covering the war in 1970s Rhodesia. PLUS Peter K. Andersson...

Philosopher, poet, playwright, science fiction writer, scientist, and celebrity Margaret Cavendish (1623-1673) was a public and publishing sensation. In this episode, Jacke talks to biographer Francesca Peacock about her new book, Pure Wit: The Revolutionary Life of Margaret Cavendish. PLUS Patrick Whitmarsh (Writing Our Extinction: Anthropocene Fiction and Vertical Science) selects his choice for...

Superguest Mike Palindrome joins Jacke for a reading and discussion of D.H. Lawrence's short story "Tickets, Please" (1918), a "war of the sexes" modernist story in which some innocent flirtation turns to revenge and violence. PLUS literature aficionado Myron Tuman returns to the podcast to discuss his selection for the last book he will ever read. Help support the show at patreon.com/literature o...

Jacke talks to author Michelle P. Brown about her new book, Bede and the Theory of Everything, which investigates the life and world of Bede (c. 673-735), the foremost scholar of the Middle Ages and the "father of English history." PLUS Adrian Edwards, Head of Printed Heritage Collections at the British Library, stops by to select his choice for the last book he will ever read. Help support the sh...

The evidence is clear: Henry David Thoreau was an industrious person who worked hard throughout his life. And yet, he's often viewed as a kind of dreamy layabout who dropped out of society so he could sit by his pond and think his thoughts. Can we reconcile these two figures? What did work mean to Thoreau? And what advice did he have for the rest of us? In this episode, Jacke talks to Thoreau scho...

Happy New Year! Jacke kicks off 2024 with two of his favorite subjects: Books and Travel. First, Bethanne Patrick stops by to talk about the new season of Missing Pages, the Signal Award-winning, Webby Award-nominated, and chart-topping podcast about the world of books and book culture. Next, Aislyn Greene, host of the podcast Travel Tales by AFAR, joins Jacke for a discussion of conscientious tra...

Nicholas Dames (The Chapter: A Segmented History from Antiquity to the Twenty-First Century) started his latest project with a seemingly simple question: Why do books have chapters? In this episode, as we turn from one year to the next, Jacke talks to an expert in segmentation. PLUS Hamid Dabashi (The Persian Prince: The Rise and Resurrection of an Imperial Archetype) stops by to discuss his choic...

What books to buy for others? What books to read? In this guest episode from FT Weekend's Life and Art podcast, members of the Financial Times books team answer listener questions and share their personal recommendations from 2023. Follow the Life and Art podcast wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house / Not a creature was stirring, not even a...FRAUD!? In this episode, Jacke dives into the dispute over one of the most famous Christmas poems of all time, "A Visit from St. Nicholas" (also known as "The Night Before Christmas" or "'Twas the Night Before Christmas"). Long attributed to the somewhat curmudgeonly figure Clement C. Moore, new...

Zelda and Scott, Henry and June and Anaïs, Jean-Paul and Simone, Vladimir and Vera... the names that ring out from the 1930s are those of some of the most famous artists and intellectuals of the twentieth century. Everyone who was everyone, it seemed, was in Europe, but as the Roaring Twenties faded, a new political reality took hold. The winds of war were once again stirring - how would these art...

Shakespeare helped to make the Fool a common literary character. But what about the real-life fools who served in actual courts? Who were they and what kind of lives did they lead? In this episode, Jacke talks to author Peter K. Andersson about his book Fool: In Search of Henry VIII's Closest Man, which tells the story of Will Somer, an unusual man with a very strange job. PLUS Milton expert Ed Si...

Books are often viewed as the pinnacle of civilization; war, on the other hand, is where civilization breaks down. What happens when these two forces encounter one another? In this episode, Jacke talks to esteemed literary historian Andrew Pettegree about his new book, The Book at War: How Reading Shaped Conflict and Conflict Shaped Reading. PLUS Robin Lane Fox (Homer and His Iliad) stops by to di...

After taking a look at Emily Dickinson's Poem #269 ("Wild Nights - wild nights!"), Jacke talks to novelist Anne Enright about growing up in Ireland, her writing career, and her new book The Wren, The Wren. PLUS Dublin literary historian Christopher Morash (Dublin: A Writer's City) stops by to select the last book he will ever read. Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or historyoflitera...

Jacke reads "Odour of Chrysanthemums," D.H. Lawrence's story about a woman waiting for her husband, a coal miner, to come home. Then Mike Palindrome, the President of the Literature Supporters Club, stops by to discuss his trip to the Proust Conference and his thoughts on Lawrence's classic short story. Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or historyofliterature.com/donate. The History...

After discussing Emily Dickinson's Poem #259 ("A Clock stopped -"), Jacke talks to author David Sterling Brown about his new book Shakespeare's White Others. PLUS novelist Shilpi Suneja (House of Caravans) selects the last book she will ever read. Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or historyofliterature.com/donate. The History of Literature Podcast is a member of Lit Hub Radio and th...

Jacke talks to bestselling author Katharine Howe (editor of The Penguin Book of Pirates) about her new novel, A True Account: Hannah Masury's Sojourn Amongst the Pirates, Written by Herself. PLUS an analysis of Emily Dickinson's Poem #256 ("The Robin's my Criterion for Tune-") Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or historyofliterature.com/donate. The History of Literature Podcast is a...

Jacke talks to British academic librarian Christopher de Hamel about his passion for medieval manuscripts and his new book The Manuscripts Club: The People Behind a Thousand Years of Medieval Manuscripts. PLUS Maaheen Ahmed, editor of The Cambridge Companion to Comics, stops by to select the last book she will ever read. Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or historyofliterature.com/do...