Episodes

Gertrude Stein (1874-1946) has long been one of the most famous - and most polarizing - figures in modernism. Was she a trailblazing genius? Or a literary charlatan? Her bestselling memoir of 1933, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas , which made her internationally famous, only added fuel to the fire. In this episode, Jacke talks to biographer Francesca Wade about the amazing archival materials, much of it never before seen by previous biographers, that helped Francesca write Gertrude Stein: A...

In Puritan New England, a young man leaves Faith, his wife, to go into the forest to meet the Devil. It's a story "as deep as Dante," said Herman Melville. In this episode, Jacke reads "Young Goodman Brown," by Nathaniel Hawthorne, then Jacke and Mike discuss the story that Stephen King has called "one of the ten best stories written by an American." Join Jacke on a trip through literary England! Join Jacke and fellow literature fans on an eight-day journey through literary England in partnershi...

What do we talk about when we talk about ancient Romans? For many of us, it's typically a fairly narrow slice of history: the toga-clad figures of Cicero and Caesar, perhaps, as their republic shades into empire before collapsing at the hands of barbarians a few hundred years later. In this episode, Jacke talks to Edward J. Watts, whose book The Romans: A 2,000-Year History takes a different approach, providing a sweeping historical survey of two thousand years of Roman history. Through this com...

After the publication of her debut novel Wuthering Heights in December of 1847, Emily Brontë - still writing under her pen name Ellis Bell - joined Currer and Acton Bell (her sisters Charlotte and Anne) as promising and intriguing young writers. Sadly, Emily would die barely a year later. How did the public view her and her writing during this brief period? And how did she view herself? In this episode, Jacke takes a look at the five reviews of Wuthering Heights that Emily Brontë clipped and kep...

“A sonnet,” said the poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti, “is a moment’s monument.” But who invented the sonnet? Who brought it to prominence? How has it changed over the years? And why does this form continue to be so compelling? In this episode of the History of Literature, we take a brief look at one of literature's most enduring forms, from its invention in a Sicilian court to the wordless sonnet and other innovative uses. Note: A version of this episode first ran in August 2018. It has been missing...

Stephen Mitchell has translated or adapted some of the world's most beautiful and spiritually rich texts, including The Gospel According to Jesus, The Book of Job, Gilgamesh, Tao Te Ching, Bhagavad Gita, The Iliad, The Odyssey, Beowulf, The Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke, Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet , and The Way of Forgiveness . In his latest book, The First Christmas: A Story of New Beginnings , he brings the Nativity story to life as never before. In this special episode, Jacke tal...

In this holiday-themed episode, a sentimental Jacke takes a look at Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol (1843), and the creation of Ebeneezer Scrooge. A version of this episode first aired in December 2020. That episode has not been available in our archives for several years. Join Jacke on a trip through literary England! Join Jacke and fellow literature fans on an eight-day journey through literary England in partnership with ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠John Shors Travel⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ in May 2026! Scheduled stops incl...

Francis Ford Coppola's masterpiece The Godfather routinely tops lists of the greatest films ever made - and when it doesn't, it's often because its sequel, The Godfather II , has replaced it. In this episode, Jacke talks to author Karen Spence about her new book, The Companion Guide to the Godfather Trilogy: Betrayal, Loyalty, and Family . PLUS Elyse Graham ( Book and Dagger: How Scholars and Librarians Became the Unlikely Spies of World War II ) stops by to discuss her choice for the last book ...

How well can we know someone through the objects they encountered? In this episode, Jacke talks to Kathryn Sutherland, Senior Research fellow at St. Anne's College, Oxford, about her new book Jane Austen in 41 Objects , which examines the objects Jane Austen encountered during her life alongside newer memorabilia inspired by the life she lived. PLUS Jacke takes a look at Gabriel García Márquez's classic multigenerational magical realist novel 100 Years of Solitude , which lands at #5 on the list...

In 1949, American critic Lionel Trilling, writing in the New Yorker , was quick to recognize the achievement of George Orwell's new novel. "[P]rofound, terrifying, and wholly fascinating," he said. 1984 "confirms its author in the special, honorable place he holds in our intellectual life." And while the Cold War and the book's primary satirical targets - Stalin and his totalitarian regime - may have faded from view, the rise of technology and our current geopolitics mean that many of 1984 's wa...

Did you think we already knew everything there was to know about Virginia Woolf? Think again! In this episode, Jacke talks to scholar and editor Urmila Seshagiri about The Life of Violet: Three Early Stories , which presents three interconnected comic stories chronicling the adventures of a giantess named Violet, which Woolf wrote in 1907, eight years before she published her first novel. The story of Seshagiri's discovery is nearly as fantastical as the stories themselves. PLUS literary biograp...

At the start of Shakespeare's famous tragedy, King Lear promises to divide his kingdom based on his daughters’ professions of love, but he portions it out before hearing all of their answers. For Nan Da, a professor of English literature who emigrated from China to the United States as a child in the 1990s, this startling opening scene sparked a reckoning between Shakespeare’s cruel and confounding story and the tragedy of Maoist and post-Maoist China. In this episode, Jacke talks to Nan about h...

Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593) was born into relative obscurity and died in mysterious circumstances at the age of 29. And yet, somehow this ambitious cobbler's son brought about a spectacular explosion of English literature, language, and culture. In this episode, Jacke talks to Stephen Greenblatt about his book Dark Renaissance: The Dangerous Times and Fatal Genius of Shakespeare's Greatest Rival , which illuminates both Marlowe's times and the origins and significance of his work. PLUS autho...

When Jacke started the podcast in 2015, he decided to privilege books that were at least fifty years old. (Longtime listeners will know he's made a few exceptions, but for the most part, that's been the policy.) Last month, the History of Literature Podcast celebrated its tenth anniversary - which means there are ten years' worth of books that are eligible now that weren't when he began. In this day-before-Thanksgiving episode, Jacke talks to regular guests Mike Palindrome and Laurie Frankel abo...

Charlotte Brontë wasn't born the eldest child, but she was thrust into a leadership role at the age of ten, as the Brontë children dealt with the tragic deaths of their mother and two eldest sisters. How did this affect their family dynamic? And when the younger two sisters, Emily and Anne, had their novels accepted while Charlotte's alone was rejected, how did Charlotte respond? In this episode, Jacke talks to author Catherine Rayner, expert in the Brontës and a qualified nurse who's studied th...

In September 2022, a young Kurdish woman, Mahsa Jîna Amini, died after being beaten by police officers who arrested her for not adhering to the Islamic Republic’s dress code. Her death galvanized thousands of Iranians—mostly women—who took to the streets in one of the country’s largest uprisings in decades: the Woman, Life, Freedom movement. In this episode, Jacke talks to Nilo Tabrizy about her experience co-authoring the book For the Sun After Long Nights: The Story of Iran's Women-Led Uprisin...

It's the 750th episode of the History of Literature, and what better way to celebrate than to talk some Hemingway with repeat guest Mark Cirino? In this episode, Jacke talks to Mark about Hemingway's classic love-and-war novel A Farewell to Arms, including the recent Norton Library edition of the book , which Mark edited. PLUS Jacke takes a look at the online contretemps between novelist Joyce Carol Oates and a famous wealthy person. AND graphic biographer Ken Krimstein ( Einstein in Kafkaland: ...

When Hamlet, in his famous soliloquy, pondered the "dread of something after death, / the undiscovered country," he noted that such thoughts "puzzles the will." (Earlier editions of the play had this as a "hope of something after death" that "puzzles the brain." What's the significance for an Elizabethan writer (and audience) of the change from hope to dread ? And from brain to will ? In this episode, Jacke talks to Douglas Clark ( The Will in English Renaissance Drama ) about the moments of wil...

Katherine Mansfield's writing, said Virginia Woolf, "was the only writing I was ever jealous of." In this episode, Jacke talks to author Gerri Kimber about Katherine Mansfield: A Hidden Life , which explores the life and work of one of literary modernism's most significant writers. PLUS Jacke takes a look at the unusual friendship between poet W.H. Auden and the sex worker whom he hired, was robbed by, and befriended. And Kenneth Sacks ( Emerson's Civil Wars: Spirit and Society in the Age of Abo...

Dmitry Ivanovich Khvostov (1757-1835) might be the worst poet who ever lived. Pathologically prolific and delusional dedicated to a craft for which he had no talent, he continued to write and publish his poetry despite the pleadings of friends, loved ones, critics, and the public. In this episode, Jacke talks to author Ilya Vinitsky and translator James H. McGavran III about their book, The Graphomaniac: A Literary-Historical Discussion of Dmitry Khvostov as a Reprieve from Teaching, the Vanity ...

Author Devoney Looser may be a mild-mannered English professor to most people, but roller derby fans know her as Stone Cold Jane Austen, her smashmouth alter ego. In this episode, Devoney tells Jacke about her new book Wild for Austen: A Rebellious, Subversive, and Untamed Jane , which suggests we also rethink the commonly held view of "spinster Jane." PLUS Jacke reveals #9 on the list of the Greatest Books of All Time. Join Jacke on a trip through literary England (signup closing soon)! The His...

In the spring of 2022, Jacke dropped everything to plummet into one of the strangest poems he had ever read, "Goblin Market" by Christina Rossetti (1830-1894). The result was a two-part episode that never quite found its home. In this special Halloween episode, we've combined the best parts of both of those episodes to bring you the full story of an idiosyncratic Victorian poet and her bizarre tale of two sisters seduced by the fruits being sold by a pack of river goblins. Enjoy! Join Jacke on a...

The year is 1816, and 18-year-old Mary Shelley has fled London with her lover, Percy Shelley, and her sister, Claire. They're on their way to visit Lord Byron's villa in Lake Geneva, Switzerland - and to change the course of literary history. In this episode, Jacke talks to Caroline Lea about her novel Love, Sex, and Frankenstein , which tells the haunting, evocative story of the summer that should have broken Mary Shelley, but instead inspired her to write her Gothic masterpiece. PLUS we hear f...

An early encounter with one of the most famous people in the world initiated Jack Zipes into the world of fairy tales - and he never looked back. In this episode, Jacke talks to the fairy tale expert about his book Buried Treasures: The Power of Political Fairy Tales , which profiles modern writers and artists who tapped the political potential of fairy tales. PLUS Jacke delivers some Chaucer news before looking at Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment , which lands at #11 on the list of the Greates...