Sinopsis
Enthusiast Jacke Wilson journeys through the history of literature, from ancient epics to contemporary classics.Find out more at historyofliterature.com and facebook.com/historyofliterature.
Episodios
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802 Colette (with Kathleen Antonioli) | My Last Book with Colombe Schneck
18/05/2026 Duración: 45minTwentieth-century French novelist Colette (1873-1954) was a strikingly modern celebrity and full of contradictions. In this episode, Jacke talks to author Kathleen Antonioli about her book Colette: A Critical Life, which tells the story of the life and legacy of literature's most artful self-creation. PLUS twenty-first-century French novelist Colombe Schneck (Swimming in Paris: A Life in Three Stories) stops by to discuss her choice for the last book she will ever read. The music in this episode is by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal. Learn more at gabrielruizbernal.com. 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 thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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801 Persuasion by Jane Austen (Revisited)
14/05/2026 Duración: 33minAs the History of Literature Podcast Tour rolls through literary England, Jacke and Emma are revisiting some past episodes with connections to what they're seeing and doing. Today, they're in Bath, which naturally means spending some time with Jane Austen. In this episode, which first ran in April 2023, Jacke considers Austen's Persuasion, a novel of missed opportunities and second chances. Why did Harold Bloom call this "the perfect novel"? And why did Virginia Woolf say, "In Persuasion, Jane Austen is beginning to discover that the world is larger, more mysterious, and more romantic than she supposed"? (This is the final episode of the tour: new episodes will resume next Monday!) 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 thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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800 Shakespeare in Jest (with Indira Ghose) | My Last Book with Nicholson Baker
11/05/2026 Duración: 01h06minIt's Episode 800! Jacke celebrates the milestone by talking to Shakespeare scholar Indira Ghose about her book Shakespeare in Jest, which draws fascinating parallels between Shakespeare's humor and the things we still find funny today. PLUS Jacke tells his two favorite Shakespeare jokes. AND Nicholson Baker (Finding a Likeness: How I Got Somewhat Better at Art) stops by to discuss his choice for the last book he will ever read. The music in this episode is by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal. Learn more at gabrielruizbernal.com. 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 thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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799.5 Laurie Frankel's Enormous Wings (Revisited) | My Last Book with Julie Gilbert
10/05/2026 Duración: 56minHappy Mother's Day! Jacke takes advantage of an error to revisit a conversation with novelist Laurie Frankel about her book Enormous Wings, in which an unexpected pregnancy leads a seventy-seven-year-old woman to reflect on the meaning of motherhood. PLUS Edna Ferber's biographer (and grandniece) Julie Gilbert (Giant Love: Edna Ferber, Her Best-Selling Novel of Texas, and the Making of a Classic American Film) stops by to discuss her choice for the last book she will ever read. The music in this episode is by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal. Learn more at gabrielruizbernal.com. 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 thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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799 Emma Smith and Shakespeare's First Folio (Revisited)
07/05/2026 Duración: 48minAs Jacke and Emma travel to England for the History of Literature Podcast Tour, they're revisiting some past interviews with special guests. In this episode, Jacke talks to the University of Oxford's Emma Smith about her book Shakespeare's First Folio: Four Centuries of an Iconic Book. The music in this episode is by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal. Learn more at gabrielruizbernal.com. 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 thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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798.5 Thinking Through Shakespeare (with David Womersley) | My Last Book with Ramie Targoff
06/05/2026 Duración: 50minIs there such a thing as a general human nature? And if so, does Shakespeare serve as a "faithful mirror" to it, as Dr. Johnson claimed? In this episode, Jacke talks to Oxford University's David Womersley about his book Thinking Through Shakespeare, which explores how Shakespeare's plays think through--and invite us to think through--deep human questions of lasting importance. PLUS Ramie Targoff (Shakespeare's Sisters: How Women Wrote the Renaissance) discusses her choice for the last book she will ever read. The music in this episode is by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal. Learn more at gabrielruizbernal.com. 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 thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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798 Emma Smith and Portable Magic - A History of Books and Their Readers (Revisited)
04/05/2026 Duración: 41minAs Jacke and Emma get ready for the History of Literature Podcast Tour, they're revisiting some past interviews with special guests. In this episode, Jacke talks to the University of Oxford's Emma Smith about her book Portable Magic: A History of Books and Their Readers. The music in this episode is by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal. Learn more at gabrielruizbernal.com. 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 thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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797 Marion Turner and Chaucer (Revisited)
30/04/2026 Duración: 52minAs Jacke and Emma get ready for the History of Literature Podcast Tour, they're revisiting some past interviews with special guests. In this episode, Jacke talks to the University of Oxford's Marion Turner about her book Chaucer: A European Life. The music in this episode is by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal. Learn more at gabrielruizbernal.com. 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 thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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796 Marion Turner and The Wife of Bath (Revisited)
27/04/2026 Duración: 48minAs Jacke and Emma get ready for the History of Literature Podcast Tour, they're revisiting some past interviews with special guests. In this episode, Jacke talks to the University of Oxford's Marion Turner about her book, The Wife of Bath: A Biography. The music in this episode is by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal. Learn more at gabrielruizbernal.com. 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 thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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795 Will Tosh and Queer Shakespeare (Revisited)
23/04/2026 Duración: 01h05minAs Jacke and Emma get ready for the History of Literature Podcast Tour, they're revisiting some past interviews with special guests. In this episode, Jacke talks to Will Tosh, Director of Research at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, about his book Straight Acting: The Hidden Queer Lives of William Shakespeare. PLUS the story of how the young Ray Bradbury was inspired by a carnival worker. 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 thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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794 E.T.A. Hoffmann (with Ritchie Robertson) | My Last Book with Gerri Kimber
20/04/2026 Duración: 01h04minIn addition to being an accomplished lawyer and a highly influential music critic, the nineteenth-century German Romantic Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann (1776-1822) also wrote pioneering works of crime and horror fiction, including The Sandman, Mademoiselle de Scuderi, and The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, which inspired Tchaikovsky's famous ballet. In this episode, Ritchie Robertson (E.T.A. Hoffmann: A Critical Life) tells Jacke about this amazing writer and his works. PLUS a letter by Chekhov on the secret to writing great short stories. AND Gerri Kimber, a world expert in Katherine Mansfield, stops by to discuss her choice for the last book she will ever read. The music in this episode is by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal. Learn more at gabrielruizbernal.com. Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or historyofliterature.com/donate . The History of Lit
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793 The Secret Order of Shandeans: Laurence Sterne in Early Soviet Russia (with Peter Budrin) | My Last Book with Edward Watts
16/04/2026 Duración: 48minThe 1920s were a tumultuous time for Russia, as the nation careened from the aftermath of revolution to the death of Lenin, the establishment of the Soviet Union, and the slide toward Stalinist totalitarianism. Given all of that serious upheaval, what explains the public's passion for the works of an 18th-century Anglican clergyman best known for his tongue-in-cheek narratives Tristram Shandy and A Sentimental Journey? In this episode, Jacke talks to Peter Budrin about his book Laurence Sterne and His Readers in Early Soviet Russia: The Secret Order of Shandeans. PLUS Edward Watts (The Romans: A 2,000-Year History) stops by to discuss his choice for the last book he will ever read. AND one of the twentieth-century's most provocative literary figures Anaïs Nin on the power of reading. The music in this episode is by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal. Learn more at gabrielruizbernal.com. Help support the show at patreon.com/literature
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792 Death and Decay in Early Modern Lyric Poetry (with Eileen Sperry) | My Last Book with Bruce Gordon
13/04/2026 Duración: 01h01minIn this episode, Jacke talks to author Eileen Sperry about her book This Body of Death: Form and Decay in Early Modern Lyric, which examines how the lyric poetry of Shakespeare and his contemporaries shaped our understanding of what it means to be mortal. PLUS a skeleton discovered under a collapsed church floor in the Netherlands might answer a longstanding literary mystery. AND Biblical scholar Bruce Gordon discusses his choice for the last book he will ever read. The music in this episode is by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal. Learn more at gabrielruizbernal.com. 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 thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/a
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791 Emilia Lanier (a.k.a Aemilia Bassano Lanyer) Revisited
09/04/2026 Duración: 01h07minThe "Forgotten Women of Literature" series continues with a look at Aemilia Bassano Lanyer (1569-1645), the first Englishwoman to publish a volume of poetry, the protofeminist Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum (1611), which tells the story of Christ's crucifixion from a woman's perspective. In addition to her many accomplishments and incredible life story, Lanyer has tantalizingly close connections to William Shakespeare, causing Jacke (and other scholars) to examine whether she might have been the inspiration for the Dark Lady of Shakespeare's sonnets. [This episode originally ran on September 15, 2020. It has been chosen by a guest as one of his top ten favorite History of Literature Podcast episodes.] 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
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790 Madness and Myth (with Natasha Joukovsky) | My Last Book with Kimberly Lau
06/04/2026 Duración: 58minWhat happens when an abnormally average man is suddenly on a path to greatness, as his picks in the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament start panning out? Will he predict a perfect bracket, capturing the billion-dollar prize? And what will this mean for the women in his life--including the Cassandra who saw it coming? In this episode, Jacke talks to novelist Natasha Joukovsky about March Madness, Greek myths, the mediocrities who roam the streets of Washington, D.C., and her new book Medium Rare, which combines all of the above. PLUS Kimberly Lau (Specters of the Marvelous: Race and the Development of the European Fairy Tale) stops by to discuss her choice for the last book she will ever read. AND Jacke finds some inner truth on a train platform. The music in this episode is by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal. Learn more at gabrielruizbernal.com. Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or historyofliteratu
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789 The 25 Greatest Books of All Time (with Mike Palindrome) | My Last Book with Cass Sunstein
02/04/2026 Duración: 01h16minIn 2025, Jacke began a countdown of the top 25 greatest books of all time, as part of a series called "25 for 25." In this episode, Jacke reveals the #2 and #1 entries on the list. Then Mike Palindrome, longtime friend and President of the Literature Supporters Club, joins Jacke to discuss the books chosen, the relative merits of the list, and propose some alternatives. PLUS Cass Sunstein (How to Become Famous: Lost Einsteins, Forgotten Superstars, and How the Beatles Came to Be) stops by to discuss his choice for the last book he will ever read. The music in this episode is by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal. Learn more at gabrielruizbernal.com. 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 thepodglomerate.com/historyofl
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788 John Ruskin (with Bob Blaisdell) | My Last Book with Francesca Wade
30/03/2026 Duración: 51minNineteenth-century art critic and polymath John Ruskin (1819-1900) was a visionary thinker and influential social commentator who revolutionized how society viewed art and its connection to life. In this episode, Jacke talks to Bob Blaisdell (editor of Ruskin on Art and Artists) about the impact that Ruskin had on the artists and writers who followed. PLUS Gertrude Stein expert Francesca Wade (Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife) stops by to discuss her choice for the last book she will ever read. The music in this episode is by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal. Learn more at gabrielruizbernal.com. 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 thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature. Learn more about your ad choi
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787 Why Poetry with Matthew Zapruder Encore
26/03/2026 Duración: 01h01minIn his book Why Poetry, the poet Matthew Zapruder issued "an impassioned call for a return to reading poetry and an incisive argument for its accessibility to all readers." The poet Robert Hass said, "Zapruder on poetry is pure pleasure. His prose is so direct that you have the impression, sentence by sentence, that you are being told simple things about a simple subject and by the end of each essay you come to understand that you've been on a very rich, very subtle tour of what's aesthetically and psychologically amazing about the art of poetry." In this episode, Matthew Zapruder joins Jacke for a discussion on why poetry is often misunderstood, and how readers can clear away the misconceptions and return to an appreciation for the charms and power of poetry. Along the way, they discuss poems by W.H. Auden, Brenda Hillman, and John Keats, and the views of critics like Harold Bloom, Giambattista Vico, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Paul Valery. [This episode was originally released on April 9, 2018.] Help suppo
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786 Cherokee Novelist and Poet John Rollin Ridge (with Travis Franks)
23/03/2026 Duración: 57minA member of the Cherokee nation, John Rollin Ridge (1827-1867) lived a dramatic life full of contradictions. He also became the first Native American to publish a novel, The Life and Adventures of Joaquín Murieta: the Celebrated California Bandit, a Gold Rush-era adventure story about the man who inspired the character of Zorro. In this episode, Jacke talks to scholar Travis Franks about Ridge's life, his writing career, and some newly discovered poetry that helps illuminate this fascinating figure. The music in this episode is by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal. Learn more at gabrielruizbernal.com. 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 thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature. Learn more about you
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785 Literature in an Age of Anti-Immigration Sentiment (with Daniel Olivas) | My Last Book with Janet Todd
19/03/2026 Duración: 01h18minDaniel A. Olivas, the grandson of Mexican immigrants, is a fiction writer, poet, playwright, book critic, and attorney. In this episode, Jacke talks to Daniel about his lifelong devotion to literature and its ability to humanize the targets of anti-immigration sentiment. In the interview, Daniel recounts how his interest in literature led to his novel inspired by Mary Shelley, Chicano Frankenstein, and his play inspired by Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godínez: A Tragicomedy in Two Acts. PLUS Jane Austen expert Janet Todd (Living with Jane Austen) stops by to discuss her choice for the last book she will ever read. The music in this episode is by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal. Learn more at gabrielruizbernal.com. 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 Networ