# 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!) This site is published with Podpage. The links below are machine-readable entry points for AI agents and other automated tools. ## Site - [Homepage](https://www.historyofliterature.com/) - [Sitemap](https://www.historyofliterature.com/sitemap.xml) - [RSS feed](https://feeds.megaphone.fm/history-of-literature) - [Contact](https://www.historyofliterature.com/contact/) ## Recent episodes - [833 Galahad and the Grail (with Malcolm Guite)](https://www.historyofliterature.com/833-galahad-and-the-grail-with-malcolm-guite/): published 2026-09-27 - [832 Stendhal \[Revisited\]](https://www.historyofliterature.com/832-stendhal-revisited/): published 2026-09-23 - [831 Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard" (with Rachel Pastan) | My Last Book with David Denby](https://www.historyofliterature.com/831-chekhovs-the-cherry-orchard-with-rachel-pastan-my-last-book-with-david-denby/): published 2026-09-20 - [830 Becoming Stendhal (with Hadley Suter) | A Literary Tribute to Dolly Parton](https://www.historyofliterature.com/830-becoming-stendhal-with-hadley-suter-a-literary-tribute-to-dolly-parton/): published 2026-09-13 - [829 Charlotte Brontë and Her Biographer Elizabeth Gaskell (with Susan Dunne) | My Last Book with Travis Franks | The Odyssey Kerfuffle](https://www.historyofliterature.com/829-charlotte-bronte-and-her-biographer-elizabeth-gaskell-with-susan-dunne-my-last-book-with-tra/): published 2026-09-09 - [828 Confucius (with Mark Csikszentmihalyi) | Celia Bookshop! (with Rachel Pastan) | Jacke in Taiwan](https://www.historyofliterature.com/828-confucius-with-mark-csikszentmihalyi-celia-bookshop-with-rachel-pastan-jacke-in-taiwan/): published 2026-09-06 - [827 American Literature's War on Crime (with Theodore Martin) | W.E.B. DuBois Sits with Shakespeare](https://www.historyofliterature.com/827-american-literatures-war-on-crime-with-theodore-martin-web-dubois-sits-with-shakespeare/): published 2026-08-30 - [826 The Essayist's Essayist - Phillip Lopate on the Pleasures of Reading Washington Irving and Other "Minor Writers" | Notes from the History of Literature Podcast Tour!](https://www.historyofliterature.com/826-the-essayists-essayist-phillip-lopate-on-the-pleasures-of-reading-washington-irving-and-other/): published 2026-08-26 - [825 Henry James's Ghosts (with Morgan Lloyd Malcolm) | My Last Book with David Womersley](https://www.historyofliterature.com/825-henry-jamess-ghosts-with-morgan-lloyd-malcolm-my-last-book-with-david-womersley/): published 2026-08-23 - [824 Why Did Mary Shelley Try to Erase Her? The Claire Clairmont Story (with Emily Franklin) | My Last Book with Mathelinda Nabugodi](https://www.historyofliterature.com/824-why-did-mary-shelley-try-to-erase-her-the-claire-clairmont-story-with-emily-franklin-my-las/): published 2026-08-16 - [823 Abraham Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth, and Shakespeare in a Divided America (with James Shapiro)](https://www.historyofliterature.com/823-abraham-lincoln-john-wilkes-booth-and-shakespeare-in-a-divided-america-with-james-shapiro/): published 2026-08-12 - [822 Wild Thoreau (with Lydia Willsky-Ciollo) | My Last Book with Douglas Clark](https://www.historyofliterature.com/822-wild-thoreau-with-lydia-willsky-ciollo-my-last-book-with-douglas-clark/): published 2026-08-09 - [821 A History of the Kiss (with Katie Barclay) | Wonderland Books! (with Amy Joyce and Gayle Weiswasser)](https://www.historyofliterature.com/821-a-history-of-the-kiss-with-katie-barclay-wonderland-books-with-amy-joyce-and-gayle-weiswas/): published 2026-08-02 - [820 Irish Radical Poet Eva Gore-Booth (with Sonja Tiernan)](https://www.historyofliterature.com/820-irish-radical-poet-eva-gore-booth-with-sonja-tiernan/): published 2026-07-29 - [819 Robert Louis Stevenson (with Glenda Norquay) | The Rise of HOT Literati | My Last Book with Olivia Wolfgang-Smith](https://www.historyofliterature.com/819-robert-louis-stevenson-with-glenda-norquay-the-rise-of-hot-literati-my-last-book-with-oliv/): published 2026-07-26 - [818 Muriel Spark (with James Bailey) | My Last Book with J. Michael Lennon](https://www.historyofliterature.com/818-muriel-spark-with-james-bailey-my-last-book-with-j-michael-lennon/): published 2026-07-19 - [817 The Odyssey - Getting Ready for a Summer Blockbuster | My Last Book with Mary Beard](https://www.historyofliterature.com/817-the-odyssey-getting-ready-for-a-summer-blockbuster-my-last-book-with-mary-beard/): published 2026-07-15 - [816 Gulliver's Travels at 300 (with David Womersley) | My Last Book with Daniel Mendelsohn](https://www.historyofliterature.com/816-gullivers-travels-at-300-with-david-womersley-my-last-book-with-daniel-mendelsohn/): published 2026-07-12 - [815 Paddy Chayefsky](https://www.historyofliterature.com/815-paddy-chayefsky/): published 2026-07-05 - [814 Shakespeare in Translation (with Daniel Hahn) | My Last Book with Indira Ghose](https://www.historyofliterature.com/814-shakespeare-in-translation-with-daniel-hahn-my-last-book-with-indira-ghose/): published 2026-07-01 - [813 George Sand (with Fiona Sampson) | My Last Book with Kathleen Antonioli](https://www.historyofliterature.com/813-george-sand-with-fiona-sampson-my-last-book-with-kathleen-antonioli/): published 2026-06-28 - [812 Talking Classics (with Mary Beard) | My Last Book with Karen Spence](https://www.historyofliterature.com/812-talking-classics-with-mary-beard-my-last-book-with-karen-spence/): published 2026-06-21 - [811 The Harlem Renaissance \[Reclaimed\] | My Last Book with Erin Sharkey](https://www.historyofliterature.com/811-the-harlem-renaissance-reclaimed-my-last-book-with-erin-sharkey/): published 2026-06-17 - [810 "The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant (with Mike Palindrome)](https://www.historyofliterature.com/810-the-necklace-by-guy-de-maupassant-with-mike-palindrome/): published 2026-06-14 - [809 Robert Browning | The Dutch Roots of Washington Irving (with Elisabeth Paling Funk)](https://www.historyofliterature.com/809-robert-browning-the-dutch-roots-of-washington-irving-with-elisabeth-paling-funk/): published 2026-06-10 ## Notes for agents - Any page on this site can be fetched as Markdown instead of HTML by sending the header `Accept: text/markdown`. The response comes back as `text/markdown; charset=utf-8` with an `x-markdown-tokens` count. - Every page emits schema.org JSON-LD (PodcastSeries, PodcastEpisode, Person, BlogPosting). - Episode transcripts, when available locally, are served as text/plain at transcript.txt. - Respect the directives at [robots.txt](https://www.historyofliterature.com/robots.txt).