The History Of Literature

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: How Albert Fell Down the Rabbit Hole and Came Up with the Universe) stops by to discuss his choice for the last book he will ever read. Join Jacke on a trip through literary England (signup closing soon)! The History of Literature Podcast Tour is happening in May 2026! Act now to join Jacke and fellow literature fans on an eight-day journey through literary England in partnership with ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠John Shors Travel⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Scheduled stops include The Charles Dickens Museum, Dr. Johnson's house, Jane Austen's Bath, Tolkien's Oxf

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 willing and will-making in English Renaissance drama, and how those moments play a crucial role in the depiction of selfhood, sin, sociality, and succession. PLUS Jacke takes a look at #7 on the list of the Greatest Books of All Time. Join Jacke on a trip through literary England (signup closing soon)! The History of Literature Podcast Tour is happening in May 2026! Act now to join Jacke and fellow literature fans on an eight-day journey through literary England in partnership with ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠John Shors Travel⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Scheduled s

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 Abolition) stops by to discuss his choice for the last book he will ever read. Join Jacke on a trip through literary England (signup closing soon)! The History of Literature Podcast Tour is happening in May 2026! Act now to join Jacke and fellow literature fans on an eight-day journey through literary England in partnership with ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠John Shors Travel⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Scheduled stops include The Charles Dickens Museum, Dr. Johnson's house, Jane Austen's Bath, Tolkien's Oxford, Shakespeare's Globe Theater, and more. Find out more by e

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 of Worldly Affairs, and Melancholy Reflections Brought On by the Loss of a Front Tooth, Together with the Current Cultural and Political Situation. PLUS Stephanie Sandler (The Freest Speech in Russia: Poetry Unbound, 1989-2022), an expert in Russia's Golden Age of literature and Russian contemporary poetry, stops by to discuss her choice for the last book she will ever read. AND Jacke reveals the #8 Greatest Book of All Time! Join Jacke on a trip through literary England (signup closing soon)! The History of Literatur

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 History of Literature Podcast Tour is happening in May 2026! Act now to join Jacke and fellow literature fans on an eight-day journey through literary England in partnership with ⁠⁠⁠⁠John Shors Travel⁠⁠⁠⁠. Scheduled stops include The Charles Dickens Museum, Dr. Johnson's house, Jane Austen's Bath, Tolkien's Oxford, Shakespeare's Globe Theater, and more. Find out more by emailing jackewilsonauthor@gmail.com or masahiko@johnshorstravel.com, or by contacting us through our website ⁠⁠⁠⁠historyofliterature.com⁠⁠⁠⁠. Or visit

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 trip through literary England (signup closing soon)! The History of Literature Podcast Tour is happening in May 2026! Act now to join Jacke and fellow literature fans on an eight-day journey through literary England in partnership with ⁠⁠⁠⁠John Shors Travel⁠⁠⁠⁠. Scheduled stops include The Charles Dickens Museum, Dr. Johnson's house, Jane Austen's Bath, Tolkien's Oxford, Shakespeare's Globe Theater, and more. Find out more by emailing jackewilsonauthor@gmail.com or masahiko@johnshorstravel.com, or by contacting us th

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 from a listener who's been reading with her children and has a recommendation for Jacke, we cover #10 on our list of Greatest Books of All Time, and Geoffrey Turnovsky (Reading Typographically: Immersed in Print in Early Modern France) stops by to discuss his choice for the last book he will ever read. Join Jacke on a trip through literary England (signup closing soon)! The History of Literature Podcast Tour is happening in May 2026! Act now to join Jacke and fellow literature fans on an eight-day journey through litera

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 Greatest Books of All Time. NOTE: The discussion with Jack Zipes was originally released on July 17, 2023. It has not been available in the archives for many months. Join Jacke on a trip through literary England (signup closing soon)! The History of Literature Podcast Tour is happening in May 2026! Act now to join Jacke and fellow literature fans on an eight-day journey through literary England in partnership with ⁠⁠⁠⁠John Shors Travel⁠⁠⁠⁠. Scheduled stops include The Charles Dickens Museum, Dr. Johnson's house, Jane Austen'

It's October, the perfect month to celebrate the master of mystery and the macabre. In this episode, Jacke talks to author Richard Kopley about his book Edgar Allan Poe: A Life, a comprehensive critical biography that combines a narrative of Poe's enduring challenges (including his difficult foster father, poverty, alcoholism, depression, and his numerous personal losses) with close readings of his works. PLUS we look at Virginia Woolf's view of what made Jane Austen so great even at the age of 15, and Christopher Herbert (Jane Austen's Favourite Brother, Henry) stops by to discuss his choice for the last book he will ever read. Join Jacke on a trip through literary England (signup closing soon)! The History of Literature Podcast Tour is happening in May 2026! Act now to join Jacke and fellow literature fans on an eight-day journey through literary England in partnership with ⁠⁠⁠John Shors Travel⁠⁠⁠. Scheduled stops include The Charles Dickens Museum, Dr. Johnson's house, Jane Austen's Bath, Tolkien's Oxfor

In 1945, the Nobel Committee awarded its prize for literature to Gabriela Mistral (1889-1957) "for her lyric poetry which, inspired by powerful emotions, has made her name a symbol of the idealistic aspirations of the entire Latin American world." Born in a rural Andean valley and abandoned by her free-spirited father at the age of three, Mistral struggled for the right to be a teacher - and then went on to help reform the Chilean educational system to improve the lives of women and the impoverished. After experiencing heartbreak and several tragedies, her poetry collection Desolación ("Desolation" or "Despair") (1922) made her one of Latin America's most revered writers. In this episode, Jacke looks at the life and works of this remarkable poet, whose constant search for truths in nature and humanity informed a body of work that continues to delight and inspire. Join Jacke on a trip through literary England (signup closing soon)! The History of Literature Podcast Tour is happening in May 2026! Act now to j

In this episode, Jacke talks to author David Denby about his new book, Eminent Jews: Bernstein, Brooks, Friedan, Mailer, a group biography (loosely inspired by Lytton Strachey's Eminent Victorians) that describes how four larger-than-life figures upended the restrained culture of their forebears and changed American life. PLUS in honor of War and Peace, which lands at #13 on the list of the Greatest Books of All Time, Jacke takes a look at an early essay by Virginia Woolf that explains what made Tolstoy's works so great. Join Jacke on a trip through literary England (signup closing soon)! The History of Literature Podcast Tour is happening in May 2026! Act now to join Jacke and fellow literature fans on an eight-day journey through literary England in partnership with ⁠⁠⁠John Shors Travel⁠⁠⁠. Scheduled stops include The Charles Dickens Museum, Dr. Johnson's house, Jane Austen's Bath, Tolkien's Oxford, Shakespeare's Globe Theater, and more. Find out more by emailing jackewilsonauthor@gmail.com or masahiko@j

Thanks to his invention of Europe's first typographic printing method, and his pioneering work on the first printed Bible, the fifteenth-century German inventor Johannes Gutenberg has a fame and reputation that continues to this day. In 1997, Time magazine credited him with the most important innovation of the past one thousand years. However, due to scant and vague documentation, Gutenberg's actual life and career have been clouded in myth and speculation. In this episode, Jacke talks to scholar Eric Marshall White about his new book, Johannes Gutenberg: A Biography in Books, which seeks to correct the record by analyzing Gutenberg and the books that remain his lasting monument. PLUS HOL pays tribute to Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov's beautifully told tale of a dark and ugly obsession (and #14 on the list of the Greatest Books of All Time), by repeating excerpts from three previous interviews, in which Jenny Minton Quigley, Jim Shepard, and Joshua Ferris talk about Nabokov and his highly controversial novel. J

Emily Brontë only published one full-length book before dying at the tragically young age of 30. But that book, Wuthering Heights, which tells the story of obsessive and vengeful love on the rugged moors of Yorkshire, is still considered one of the pinnacles of English literature, landing at #15 on the list of Greatest Books of All Time. In this episode, Jacke takes a deep look into Emily Brontë's classic "bad boy" novel, with assistance from Virginia Woolf, Elizabeth Hardwick, Joyce Carol Oates, Anne Tyler, Alice Hoffman, Charlotte Brontë, and others. Join Jacke on a trip through literary England (signup closing soon)! The History of Literature Podcast Tour is happening in May 2026! Act now to join Jacke and fellow literature fans on an eight-day journey through literary England in partnership with ⁠⁠⁠John Shors Travel⁠⁠⁠. Scheduled stops include The Charles Dickens Museum, Dr. Johnson's house, Jane Austen's Bath, Tolkien's Oxford, Shakespeare's Globe Theater, and more. Find out more by emailing jackewils

It's October! Jacke kicks off his favorite month with a classic tale of horror, "The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs. Perhaps you know the general contours of the paradigmatic "be careful what you wish for" story from the Simpsons or another popularization - but just how scary was the original story? And who was W.W. Jacobs? Join Jacke on a trip through literary England (signup closing soon)! The History of Literature Podcast Tour is happening in May 2026! Act now to join Jacke and fellow literature fans on an eight-day journey through literary England in partnership with ⁠⁠⁠John Shors Travel⁠⁠⁠. Scheduled stops include The Charles Dickens Museum, Dr. Johnson's house, Jane Austen's Bath, Tolkien's Oxford, Shakespeare's Globe Theater, and more. Find out more by emailing jackewilsonauthor@gmail.com or masahiko@johnshorstravel.com, or by contacting us through our website ⁠⁠⁠historyofliterature.com⁠⁠⁠. Or visit the ⁠⁠⁠History of Literature Podcast Tour itinerary⁠⁠⁠ at ⁠⁠⁠John Shors Travel⁠⁠⁠. The music in this epi

Jane Austen had six brothers, but her older brother Henry was her favorite. Kind and witty, Henry has long been appreciated by Austen fans for his devotion to Jane and his championing of her novels. But Henry was a fascinating figure in his own right, capering through risky financial schemes and marrying an enigmatic French countess before ending his days as a hard-working curate. Highly successful at times and nearly bankrupt at others, Henry's colorful and turbulent life helps us better understand Jane's life and works. In this episode, Jacke talks to author Christopher Herbert about his new book, Jane Austen's Favourite Brother, Henry, which tells the illuminating and inspiring story of a special sibling relationship. PLUS Jacke shares a letter from a 22-year-old Australian reading his way through Europe. AND author Nicholas Jenkins (The Island: War and Belonging in Auden's England) discusses his choice for the last book he will ever read. Join Jacke on a trip through literary England (signup open thro

Jacke talks to author Mark Hussey (Mrs Dalloway: Biography of a Novel) about Virginia Woolf's beloved novel Mrs Dalloway, which turned 100 earlier this year. PLUS author Graham Watson (The Invention of Charlotte Bronte) stops by to discuss his choice for the last book he will ever read. Join Jacke on a trip through literary England (signup open through the end of September)! The History of Literature Podcast Tour is happening in May 2026! Act now to join Jacke and fellow literature fans on an eight-day journey through literary England in partnership with ⁠⁠⁠John Shors Travel⁠⁠⁠. Scheduled stops include The Charles Dickens Museum, Dr. Johnson's house, Jane Austen's Bath, Tolkien's Oxford, Shakespeare's Globe Theater, and more. Find out more by emailing jackewilsonauthor@gmail.com or masahiko@johnshorstravel.com, or by contacting us through our website ⁠⁠⁠historyofliterature.com⁠⁠⁠. Or visit the ⁠⁠⁠History of Literature Podcast Tour itinerary⁠⁠⁠ at ⁠⁠⁠John Shors Travel⁠⁠⁠. The music in this episode is by Gabr

Jacke talks to author Tom Lutz about 1925: A Literary Encyclopedia, which provides a fascinating window into a year when literature was arguably at its peak centrality. PLUS a look at J.R.R. Tolkien and his influential Lord of the Rings, #16 on the list of the Greatest Books of All Time. Join Jacke on a trip through literary England (signup open through the end of September)! The History of Literature Podcast Tour is happening in May 2026! Act now to join Jacke and fellow literature fans on an eight-day journey through literary England in partnership with ⁠⁠John Shors Travel⁠⁠. Scheduled stops include The Charles Dickens Museum, Dr. Johnson's house, Jane Austen's Bath, Tolkien's Oxford, Shakespeare's Globe Theater, and more. Find out more by emailing jackewilsonauthor@gmail.com or masahiko@johnshorstravel.com, or by contacting us through our website ⁠⁠historyofliterature.com⁠⁠. Or visit the ⁠⁠History of Literature Podcast Tour itinerary⁠⁠ at ⁠⁠John Shors Travel⁠⁠. The music in this episode is by Gabriel Ru

Haruki Murakami (b. 1949) is one of the rare writers who combines literary admiration with widespread appeal. Host Jacke Wilson is joined by lifelong Murakami fan Mike Palindrome to discuss what makes his novels so compelling, so mysterious, and so popular. Works discussed include The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Norwegian Wood, Kafka on the Shore, and many others. Special Bonus Quiz: Can you tell the difference between famous quotes by Murakami and YA novelist John Green? PLUS Jacke takes a look at the #17 Greatest Book of All Time, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. Note: The Haruki Murakami episode, which has been unavailable for several years, was originally released on April 1, 2018. Join Jacke on a trip through literary England (signup open through the end of September)! The History of Literature Podcast Tour is happening in May 2026! Act now to join Jacke and fellow literature fans on an eight-day journey through literary England in partnership with ⁠John Shors Travel⁠. Scheduled stops include The Cha

Jacke starts the episode by looking at the different ways that ten writers have viewed the Bible, #18 on the list of the Greatest Books of All Time. Then he's joined by scholar Kate Loveman, one of the few people in the world who's been able to read the diaries of Samuel Pepys in the original shorthand, for a discussion of her book The Strange History of Samuel Pepys's Diary. PLUS: The one quick trick Jacke's been using to stay healthy. Join Jacke on a trip through literary England (signup open through the end of September)! The History of Literature Podcast Tour is happening in May 2026! Act now to join Jacke and fellow literature fans on an eight-day journey through literary England in partnership with ⁠John Shors Travel⁠. Scheduled stops include The Charles Dickens Museum, Dr. Johnson's house, Jane Austen's Bath, Tolkien's Oxford, Shakespeare's Globe Theater, and more. Find out more by emailing jackewilsonauthor@gmail.com or masahiko@johnshorstravel.com, or by contacting us through our website ⁠historyof

Responding to a special request from a listener, Jacke discusses Fyodor Dostoevsky, his novel The Brothers Karamazov, and the search for meaning in a meaningless world. This episode was originally released as episode #250 on October 7, 2020. For reasons Jacke discusses, it has not been available for several years. One show note: at several points in the discussion, Jacke mentions a song, Jason Faulkner's version of "Blackbird," that is no longer in the episode. It has been replaced by original music composed by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal. Join Jacke on a trip through literary England (signup open through the end of September)! The History of Literature Podcast Tour is happening in May 2026! Act now to join Jacke and fellow literature fans on an eight-day journey through literary England in partnership with ⁠John Shors Travel⁠. Scheduled stops include The Charles Dickens Museum, Dr. Johnson's house, Jane Austen's Bath, Tolkien's Oxford, Shakespeare's Globe Theater, and more. Find out more by emailing jackewilsonau