The History of Literature

Latest Episodes:

388 Sense and Sensibility Mar 07, 2022

Show notes

"I am never too busy to think of S&S," Jane Austen wrote to her sister, referring to her 1811 novel by its initials, "I can no more forget it, than a mother can forget her suckling child." Sense & Sensibility was Jane Austen's first published novel. First begun when she was in the throes of her doomed dalliance with Thomas Lefroy, the novel contains the familiar Austen project of a Hero, a Heroine, a Search for Love, and the Obstacle Called Money. In this case, the heroines are two sisters named Elinor and Marianne, representing the "sense" (prudence, restraint) and "sensibility" (passion, impulsiveness) of the title.

In this episode, Jacke takes a look at the writing of Sense & Sensibility; the still common themes contained within this classic novel; and the 1995 film adaptation, in which Emma Thompson, herself in the midst of an Austen-like entanglement, nevertheless drives a shiv into Jacke's battered old heart.

Additional listening suggestions:

Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or historyofliterature.com/shop. 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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387 Loving Virginia Woolf | Fashion in Literature (with Lauren S. Cardon) Mar 03, 2022

Show notes

What's it like to be in love with a genius? How does one express oneself? Jacke takes a look at a beautiful 1926 love letter that Vita Sackville-West sent to Virginia Woolf. Then Professor Lauren S. Cardon, author of FASHIONING CHARACTER: Style, Performance, and Identity in Contemporary American Literature, stops by for a discussion of how authors use fashion choices to reveal character - and how this has changed over time.

Lauren S. Cardon is Associate Professor of English at the University of Alabama and the author of Fashion and Fiction: Self-Transformation in Twentieth-Century American Literature and The “White Other” in American Intermarriage Stories, 1945-2008.

Additional listening suggestions:

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386 Gogol's Ukrainian Nights | HOL Presents "Mysteries of a Merlin Manuscript" (A Book Dreams Podcast) Feb 28, 2022

Show notes

Jacke takes a look at Nikolai Gogol's early stories about his native Ukraine, including two famous descriptions of Ukrainian nights. Then Jacke turns things over to Eve and Julie from the Book Dreams Podcast, as they interview a scholar about a surprising find: in 2019, a librarian in Bristol discovered four scraps of parchment bearing the names "Merlin" and "Arthur." Their guest, Dr. Laura Chuhan Campbell, was part of an interdisciplinary team working to determine the origins and significance of these medieval manuscripts.

Learn more about the Book Dreams Podcast at https://www.bookdreamspodcast.com/

Additional listening ideas:

Need more Gogol? Try Episode 189: Weeping for Gogol
Feeling medieval? Try Episode 286: J.R.R. Tolkien or Episode 108 Beowulf (a.k.a. Need a Hero? Get a Grip...)
In the mood for something else? Try Episode 362: Kurt Vonnegut (with Tom Roston)

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385 The Gettysburg Address Feb 24, 2022

Show notes

In November of 1863, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln boarded a train for Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. His heart was heavy with the cost of two years of a bitter civil war, his body fatigued and feverish from what was likely the onset of smallpox. In the midst of personal grief and political turmoil, he drafted and delivered one of the greatest political speeches ever written. In roughly 270 words, the Gettysburg Address (or "America's Gospel," as Tom Brokaw called it) managed to pay tribute to fallen soldiers, dedicate a cemetery in their honor, and crystallize the central dilemma at the heart of the American experiment. In this episode, Jacke looks at ten sentences that defined a nation and asked it to look deeply into its past, its future, and its soul.

Additional listening ideas:

For more on race in America, try our three-part series on the dispute between James Baldwin and William Faulkner, starting with Baldwin v Faulkner.
Like presidential history? We talked about Thomas Jefferson in our episode on Phillis Wheatley and in our conversation on The Profound Wisdom of Black Life and Literature with Farah Jasmine Griffin.
In the mood for something different? You might like the episode in which Jacke and Mike revisit J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye.

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384 A Writer's Tools - Top 10 Literary Terms and Devices | PLUS F. Scott Fitzgerald's Writing Advice Feb 21, 2022

Show notes

Mike Palindrome, the President of the Literature Supporters' Club, joins Jacke to select the top 10 literary terms and devices of all time. PLUS Jacke reads a letter to a young writer from F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Additional listening ideas:

Fan of Fitzgerald? Try our episode on The Great Gatsby or revisit the time Jacke and Mike looked for 10 new arguments in the Hemingway vs. Fitzgerald debate.
More of a Hemingway fan? A full-of-nostalgia Jacke dug into Hemingway and The Sun Also Rises in Episode 162.
Had enough of the Lost Generation? Try zooming back thousands of years to learn more about the amazing Enheduanna, the Mesopotamian high priestess who was also the first known poet whose name was recorded.

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383 The Radical Woman Who Wrote 'Goodnight Moon' - The Story of Margaret Wise Brown (with the New Yorker's Anna Holmes) Feb 17, 2022

Show notes

"Goodnight comb and goodnight brush...And goodnight to the old lady whispering hush...Goodnight moon.."

Telling the "story" of a darkening room at bedtime, Goodnight Moon (1947) has gone from near obscurity to selling close to a million copies a year. But if you thought - as Jacke did - that the author of this odd, quiet book was probably something of a quiet old lady whispering hush herself, you couldn't be more wrong. Margaret Wise Brown was radical young woman who blew her money on furs and trips to Europe, had long-term relationships with both men and women, and spent her weekends hunting rabbits. In this episode, Anna Holmes, who wrote about Margaret Wise Brown for the New Yorker, joins Jacke to discuss the surprising story behind a beloved children's classic.

Be sure to read Anna Holmes's essay about Margaret Wise Brown's life and works in the New Yorker.

Additional listening ideas:

Like children's literature? You might enjoy our episodes on Beatrix Potter and Roald Dahl.
Learn more about Margaret Wise Brown's literary influences in our episodes on Gertrude Stein and Virginia Woolf and Her Enemies.
In the mood for something different? We explored Gabriel García Márquez with author Patricia Engel.

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382 Forbidden Victorian Love (with Mimi Matthews) | The Poet Who Hated Love | Does Margot Still Love Boswell and Johnson Feb 14, 2022

Show notes

Love is all around! On podcasts as well as holidays... In this episode, Jacke talks to USA Today bestselling author Mimi Matthews about her love for the Victorian era and how that fueled her latest work, the historical romance The Siren of Sussex, in which an ambitious equestrienne teams up with a devastatingly handsome half-Indian dressmaker to take London society by storm - unless their professional plans are thwarted by their amorous propensities toward one another. Jacke also checks in with friend of the show Margot Livesey about her first reading of the classic biography Life of Johnson by her fellow Scot, James Boswell - does it still hold up? And finally, Jacke throws a bone to love's wretched dogs, who might find some company in the misery of ancient Rome's Catullus, whose love for "Lesbia" placed him on the knife edge between self-loathing and despair.

Additional listening suggestions:

In love with love? Pain turns to loving pleasure in Episode 95 The Runaway Poets - The Triumphant Love Story of Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning.
Still in love with love? Try Episode 130 The Poet and the Painter - The Great Love Affair of Anna Akhmatova and Amedeo Modigliani.
No one to love but yourself? Join us for a look at Oscar Wilde, Ovid, and the Myth of Narcissus (with novelist Natasha Joukovsky) in Episode 337.

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381 C Subramania Bharati (with Mira T Sundara Rajan) Feb 10, 2022

Show notes

C. Subramania Bharati (1882-1923) is one of the greatest poets of the twentieth century. Known to his fellow Tamils as the "Mahakavi" ("Supreme Poet"), his works modernized and rejuvenated Tamil literature. Bharati, who knew several languages, also wrote in English, and it is in these writings that one can see and appreciate his range of interests, the depth of his thinking, and his passionate advocacy for social reform. In this episode, Jacke is joined by Bharati scholar Mira T. Sundara Rajan, editor of The Coming Age: Collected English Writings of C. Subramania Bharati, to discuss the poet's life and legacy. Professor Rajan is also the host of the Bharati 100 Podcast, which explores the life and work of Bharati in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of his death.

Additional listening ideas:

Like poetry? Professor Anahid Nersessian told us about her love for John Keats in Episode 306 - Keats's Great Odes.
Prefer twentieth-century poetry? Try our episode on T.S. Eliot and The Waste Land.
Poetry not your thing? You might like our episode on Jorge Luis Borges or our talk with Radha Vatsal about History and Mystery.

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380 Ian Fleming | PLUS The Black James Bond Feb 07, 2022

Show notes

Ian Fleming (1908-1964) always wanted to be a writer. Not an "author," as he put it, and not someone in the "Shakespeare stakes," but someone who wrote for money and pleasure. In developing his enduring character James Bond, he managed to accomplish both. In this episode, Jacke takes a look at the life and career of the most famous spy novelist in history. PLUS we look at an American spy novel, Sam Greenlee's The Spook Who Sat by the Door, which was poised for success - until some terrified authorities shut it down.

Additional listening ideas:

Like genre fiction? Try our episode on classic crime novels with Hard Case Crime editor Charles Ardai.
Really like genre fiction? We talked about reviving (and revising) Westerns with Anna North.
Fan of twentieth-century British novelists? Maybe try our episode on Roald Dahl or our look at Graham Greene's The End of the Affair with Laura Marsh.

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379 Gwendolyn Brooks | Bharati Preview 2 (with Mira Sundara Rajan) Feb 03, 2022

Show notes

When the poet Gwendolyn Brooks "writes out of her heart, out of her rich and living background, out of her very real talent," said The New York Times, "she induces almost unbearable excitement." From her "headquarters" in Chicago, Brooks spent her life writing poems about the joys and struggles of the Black Americans on the streets around her. A consummate artist with full command of her craft, along with an insatiable curiosity and a deep well of empathy, Brooks produced more than 20 volumes of poetry and other works over the span of a 70-year publishing career. She was the first Black person to win the Pulitzer Prize (in any category); the first Black American woman to be inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters; a national poet laureate; the poet laureate of Illinois for 38 years--and those are just some of her many accomplishments and honors. In this episode, Jacke takes a look at the life and works of this indelible American poet. PLUS we get another visit from Professor Mira Sundara Rajan for a sneak preview of our forthcoming episode on the "Supreme Poet" C. Subramania Bharati.

Additional listening suggestions:

We looked at another great Black American woman writer of the twentieth century in Episode 310 - Lorraine Hansberry.
Two of Gwendolyn Brooks's forerunners took center stage in our episode on the friendship between Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes (with biographer Yuval Taylor)..
We looked at a great poetic love story (but one with a surprising twist) in Episode 95 - The Runaway Poets - Triumphant Love Story of Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning.

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