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The History of Literature Podcast

The History of Literature Podcast

Amateur enthusiast Jacke Wilson journeys through the history of literature, from ancient epics to contemporary classics. (Episodes are not in chronological order - feel free to jump in wherever you'd like!)

Recent Episodes

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698 Dante in Love (with Ellen Nerenberg and Anthony Valerio) [Ad-Free Archive Edition]
April 24, 2025

698 Dante in Love (with Ellen Nerenberg and Anthony Valerio) [Ad-Free Archive Edition]

It's springtime! A great time to be in love - and if you're a poetic genius like Dante Alighieri, a great time to catch a glimpse of a girl named Beatrice on the streets of Florence, fall madly in love with her, and spend the...
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697 Race in European Fairy Tales (with Kimberly Lau) | My Last Book with Rolf Hellebust
April 21, 2025

697 Race in European Fairy Tales (with Kimberly Lau) | My Last Book with Rolf Hellebust

Anyone digging into fairy tales soon discovers that there's more to these stories of magic and wonder than meets the eye. Often thought of as stories for children, the narratives can be shockingly violent, and they sometimes ...
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696 John Ruskin (with Sara Atwood) | My Last Book with Collin Jennings
April 17, 2025

696 John Ruskin (with Sara Atwood) | My Last Book with Collin Jennings

John Ruskin (1819-1900) was a powerhouse of a man: writer, lecturer, critic, social reformer - and much else besides. From his five-volume work Modern Painters through his late writings about literature in Fiction, Fair and F...
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695 Ten Indian Classics (with Sharmila Sen) | My Last Book with Adam Smyth
April 14, 2025

695 Ten Indian Classics (with Sharmila Sen) | My Last Book with Adam Smyth

For the past ten years, the Murty Classical Library of India (published by Harvard University Press) has sought to do for classic Indian works what the famous Loeb Classical Library has done for Ancient Greek and Roman texts....
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694 Apocalyptic Literature (with Dorian Lynskey) | My Last Book with Charles Baxter
April 10, 2025

694 Apocalyptic Literature (with Dorian Lynskey) | My Last Book with Charles Baxter

For some reason, human beings don't seem to be content just thinking about their own death: they insist on imagining the end of the entire world. In this episode, Jacke talks to author Dorian Lynskey ( Everything Must Go: The...
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693 Understanding the Wonders of Nature (with Alan Lightman) | My Last Book with Alan Lightman
April 7, 2025

693 Understanding the Wonders of Nature (with Alan Lightman) | My Last Book with Alan Lightman

In today's world of specialization, Alan Lightman is that rare individual who has accomplished remarkable things in two very different realms. As a physicist with a Ph.D. from Cal Tech, he's taught at Harvard and MIT and advi...
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