Episodes

For centuries, Machiavelli has been viewed as everything from an insightful pragmatist to the mouthpiece of Satan. In this episode, Jacke talks to Italian scholar Gabriele Pedullà about his book On Niccolò Machiavelli: The Bo...

The Romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) has been called the last person to have read everything. He is also one of the greatest poet-critics in the history of literature, known for works like "The Rime of the An...

It's a multi-course literary feast at the History of Literature Podcast! Today we serve up some thoughts on books and the arts from Galileo Galilei; Mike Palindrome and his decades of reading Russian folktale theorist Vladimi...

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 thou...

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...

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 ...

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'...

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 tw...

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 Jonat...

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. The...

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 ...

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 managin...

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 ...

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...

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 hi...

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 thin...

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 c...

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...

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...

'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 f...

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 wh...

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...

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 hi...

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 litera...