The History of Literature

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665 Keats's Great Odes (with Anahid Nersessian) [Ad-Free Encore Edition] Dec 30, 2024

Show notes

In 1819, John Keats quit his job as an assistant surgeon, abandoned an epic poem he was writing, and focused his poetic energies on shorter works. What followed was one of the most fertile periods in the history of poetry, as in a few months' time Keats completed six masterpieces, including such celebrated classics as "To Autumn," "Ode to a Nightingale," and "Ode on a Grecian Urn." Now, two hundred years later, an American scholar has written an exciting new book called Keats's Odes: A Lover's Discourse, in which she gathers and revisits the Great Odes, viewing them through a personal prism.

Anahid Nersessian was born and grew up in New York City. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, and has taught at Columbia University and UCLA. Her first book, Utopia, Limited: Romanticism and Adjustment was published by Harvard University Press in 2015, and her second book, The Calamity Form: On Poetry and Social Life, by the University of Chicago in 2020. She lives in Los Angeles, CA.

[This episode, presented without commercial interruption, was originally released on February 8, 2021.]

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.

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664 James Joyce's "The Dead" Part 2 [Ad-Free Encore Version] Dec 24, 2024

Show notes

Happy holidays! In this episode, presented without commercial interruption, Jacke revisits the second half of the classic James Joyce short story "The Dead."

[This episode was originally released on December 22, 2017.]

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663 James Joyce's "The Dead" Part 1 [Ad-Free Encore Edition] Dec 23, 2024

Show notes

Happy holidays! In this episode, presented without commercial interruption, Jacke revisits the first part of the the classic James Joyce holiday story, "The Dead."

[The full version of this episode was originally released on December 19, 2017.]

Additional listening:

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662 Monstrous Work and Radical Satisfaction - Black Women Writing Under Segregation (with Eve Dunbar) | My Last Book with Deni Kasa Dec 19, 2024

Show notes

Generally speaking, a common conception of U.S. race relations in the mid-twentieth century runs like this: segregation was racist and bad, the doctrine of "separate but equal" masked genuine inequality, and the racial integration brought about by the famous Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education was a long-awaited triumph. But is the story as neat as that? What did writers - and in particular Black women writers - think about segregation in the 1930s-1950s? Did they view racial integration as a path to the promised land? Or as yet another false and incomplete promise? How did their writings reflect a resistance to conventional liberal wisdom - and how might their narrative models speak to today's world? In this episode, Jacke talks to author Eve Dunbar about her book Monstrous Work and Radical Satisfaction: Black Women Writing Under Segregation. PLUS Deni Kasa (The Politics of Grace in Early Modern Literature) stops by to discuss his choice for the last book he will ever read.

Additional listening:

The music in this episode is by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal. Learn more at ⁠gabrielruizbernal.com⁠.

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661 James Baldwin (with Colm Tóibín) Dec 16, 2024

Show notes

Acclaimed Irish novelist Colm Tóibín first read James Baldwin just after turning eighteen. Inspired by the illumination and insight in Baldwin's Go Tell It on the Mountain, Tóibín would soon become a lifelong fan. In this episode, Tóibín tells Jacke about that original encounter, the qualities he most admires in Baldwin's work, Baldwin's spiritual relationship to the works of Henry James, and more. He also tells Jacke about his new book On James Baldwin, which the Sunday Independent calls "lucid, concise, unpretentious, emotionally engaging, and in some instances, deeply personal. [A] brilliant book."

Additional listening:

The music in this episode is by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal. Learn more at ⁠gabrielruizbernal.com⁠.

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660 "Wakefield" by Nathaniel Hawthorne | My Last Book with Amelia Possanza Dec 12, 2024

Show notes

Before his marriage, before meeting Herman Melville, and before the publication of The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne was living in near seclusion, writing the stories that formed his first collection Twice-Told Tales. Edgar Allan Poe was impressed: "His tone is singularly effective," he wrote, "wild, plaintive, thoughtful, and in full accordance with his themes...We look upon him as one of the few men of indisputable genius to whom our country has as yet given birth."

In this episode, Jacke takes a look at one of these Twice-Told Tales, the short story "Wakefield," in which a Londoner abandons his wife, takes up residence one street away, then rejoins his family after twenty years as if he'd never left. The story is read in full by Emma Wilson, HOL producer. PLUS Amelia Possanza (Lesbian Love Story: A Memoir in Archives) stops by to discuss her choice for the last book she will ever read.

Additional listening:

The music in this episode is by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal. Learn more at ⁠gabrielruizbernal.com⁠.

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659 The Legend of King Arthur (with Lev Grossman) Dec 09, 2024

Show notes

A legendary king, knights of the round table, magic and myths and valiant quests - the stories of King Arthur (also known as the "Matter of Britain") have captivated readers since the Middle Ages. It's potentially rich material for a contemporary novelist, but as Lev Grossman found, some of the Arthurian world's lesser-known characters can be just as compelling. In this episode, the bestselling author of the Magicians Trilogy tells Jacke about his new take on an old legend in his novel The Bright Sword.

Additional listening:

The music in this episode is by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal. Learn more at ⁠gabrielruizbernal.com⁠.

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658 "The Snow Fairy" by Claude McKay | Literary Journeys (with John McMurtrie) Dec 05, 2024

Show notes

After taking a look at a wintry poem by Harlem Renaissance poet Claude McKay, Jacke talks to editor John McMurtrie about his new book Literary Journeys Mapping Fictional Travels Across the World of Literature, which celebrates passages of literature that have sent readers to the ends of the earth from Ancient Greece to today.

Additional listening:

The music in this episode is by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal. Learn more at ⁠gabrielruizbernal.com⁠.

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657 Auden's England (with Nicholas Jenkins) | My Last Book with Gabriele Pedulla Dec 02, 2024

Show notes

From the beginning of his career as a poet, W.H. Auden wrestled with the meaning of Englishness. He came out with a collection of poems entitled On This Island, but what exactly was this island? A world in ruins? A beautiful (if morally compromised) haven? In this episode, Jacke talks to Nicholas Jenkins (The Island: War and Belonging in Auden's England) about Auden's relationship with the land of his birth, including his preoccupations with the vicissitudes of war, the trials of love, and the problems of identity. PLUS Italian scholar Gabriele Pedullà (On Niccolò Machiavelli: The Bonds of Politics) stops by to discuss his choice for the last book he will ever read.

Additional listening:

The music in this episode is by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal. Learn more at ⁠gabrielruizbernal.com⁠.

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656 Novelist Chigozie Obioma on Literature, Life, and His Love for Kazuo Ishiguro's Remains of the Day [HOL Encore] Nov 29, 2024

Show notes

By listener request, Jacke presents a conversation with Nigerian-born novelist Chigozie Obioma (The Road to the Country, The Fishermen, An Orchestra of Minorities). Obioma, hailed by the New York Times as "the heir to Chinua Achebe," tells Jacke about his childhood in Nigeria, the moment he knew he wanted to be a storyteller, what he values in literature, and more. Special attention is paid to one of Obioma's favorite books, The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro.

[This is an HOL Encore performance. The conversation with Chigozie Obioma originally aired on February 1, 2021.]

Additional listening:

The music in this episode is by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal. Learn more at ⁠gabrielruizbernal.com⁠.

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