The History of Literature

Latest Episodes:

546 The Cambridge Companion to Comics (with Maaheen Ahmed) | My Last Book with Elizabeth Winkler Sep 07, 2023

Show notes

Jacke talks to Professor Maaheen Ahmed, editor of The Cambridge Companion to Comics, about the popular, multifaceted, and dynamic art form of manga, graphic novels, and other comics. PLUS Elizabeth Winkler (Shakespeare Was a Woman and Other Heresies: How Doubting the Bard Became the Biggest Taboo in Literature) selects her choice for the last book she will ever read.

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 www.thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature.

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545 Milton's Paradise Lost - A Personal Journey (with Ed Simon) Sep 04, 2023

Show notes

Jacke talks to author Ed Simon about his new book Heaven, Hell, and Paradise Lost, which considers Paradise Lost within the scope of Simon's alcoholism and recovery. PLUS Jacke continues his journey through the poetry of Emily Dickinson with a look at Poem 134 ("Did the Harebell loose her girdle").

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544 Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee (with Mike Palindrome) Aug 31, 2023

Show notes

In this episode, Jacke and Mike discuss Disgrace, J.M. Coetzee's stunning 1999 novel about sex, violence, salvation, and ruin in post-apartheid South Africa. Telling the story of David Lurie, a fiftysomething professor who has fallen from grace after a sexual misconduct case involving one of his students, the novel explores themes of guilt, isolation, and the inescapability of history. PLUS a look at Emily Dickinson's Poem #129 ("Our lives are Swiss").

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543 A Philosopher's Guide to Rome (with Scott Samuelson) Aug 28, 2023

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Rome! The Eternal City! It's a place for celebrating lives both present and past - and in addition to all the art and culture and architecture and food, it's a place to think deeply about the meaning of life. In this episode, Jacke talks to author Scott Samuelson about his new book Rome as a Guide to the Good Life: A Philosophical Grand Tour, which offers a thinking person's guide to the pleasures of Rome.

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542 The Altar of the Dead by Henry James (Pt 2) Aug 24, 2023

Show notes

Jacke begins with a look at Emily Dickinson's poem #122, then continues (and concludes) his reading and analysis of the Henry James masterpiece, "The Altar of the Dead."

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541 The Altar of the Dead by Henry James Aug 21, 2023

Show notes

During a horrible period of grief, literary failure, and general bewilderment, Henry James turned to art - and created some of his greatest masterpieces. In this episode, Jacke takes a look at one of James's best (and most underappreciated) stories, "The Altar of the Dead."

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540 A Black Queen in Exile (with Vanessa Riley) | My Last Book with Jolene Hubbs Aug 17, 2023

Show notes

Jacke kicks things off with a look at Emily Dickinson's Poem #90, then welcomes author Vanessa Riley for a discussion of her new historical novel Queen of Exiles, which tells the story of Haiti's Queen Marie-Louise Christophe. PLUS author Jolene Hubbs selects her choice for the last book she will ever read.

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539 Tender Is the Night by F Scott Fitzgerald (with Mike Palindrome) Aug 14, 2023

Show notes

Jacke and Mike take a look at the stormy Fitzgerald marriage and F. Scott Fitzgerald's fourth novel, Tender Is the Night, which many consider to be his masterpiece. (Yes, even better than Gatsby!)

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538 Writing Our Extinction (with Patrick Whitmarsh) | My Last Book with Christina Jarvis Aug 10, 2023

Show notes

Jacke continues his Emily Dickinson series with a reading of Poem #32. Then Professor Patrick Whitmarsh stops by for a discussion of his new book Writing Our Extinction: Anthropocene Fiction and Vertical Science, which examines works by Don DeLillo, Karen Tei Yamashita, Reza Negarestani, and Colson Whitehead (among others) to see how post-Oppenheimer authors have responded to the existential crises of climate change and the nuclear age. And finally, Kurt Vonnegut's biographer Christina Jarvis selects two books to be the last ones she will ever read.

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537 The Persian Prince (with Hamid Dabashi) Aug 07, 2023

Show notes

Jacke talks to Professor Hamid Dabashi about his new book The Persian Prince: The Rise and Resurrection of an Imperial Archetype, which replaces Machiavelli's Il Principe with a bold new figurative ideal. Drawing on works from Classical Antiquity to postcolonial literature, Dabashi reveals an archetype of a Persian Prince - leader, rebel, prophet, and poet - deeply rooted in the collective memories of multiple nations, Muslim empires, and the wider Mediterranean world. PLUS Jacke starts a new series reading his way through the poems of Emily Dickinson, beginning with Poem #23.

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