Jacke Wilson's Blog, page 11
August 3, 2022
The History of Literature #424 – Karel Čapek (with Ian Coss)
Czech novelist Karel Čapek (1890-1938) might be best known as the pioneering science fiction writer who first coined the term “robot.” But readers have long appreciated the transcendent humanity of his works. “There was no writer like him,” Arthur Miller once said, “prophetic assurance mixed with surrealistic humor and hard-edged social satire: a unique combination…a joy to read.” In this episode, Jacke talks to podcast producer Ian Coss about the life of Karel Čapek, his contributions to literature, and how Čapek’s celebrated novel War with the Newts inspired Ian’s audio fiction series Newts, a farcical, yet deadly serious tale about an alternate history of the 1930s, in which the Western world discovers, exploits, educates, arms, and is ultimately overthrown by a species of highly intelligent, three-foot tall salamanders. SPECIAL BONUS CONTENT: We conclude the episode with a trailer for Newts.
Additional listening suggestions:
160 Ray Bradbury (with Carolyn Cohagan)Margaret Atwood282 Science FictionSubscribe to Newts at the following links:
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/newts/id1621525265Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4K7X2gY9MwYFWuXEdpyFC7Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/newtsGoogle Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcHJveHkuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS9uZXd0c3BvZGNhc3QPocket Casts: https://pca.st/5kerq5l8Pandora: https://www.pandora.com/podcast/newts/PC:80522RSS: https://feeds.feedburner.com/newtspodcastHelp support the History of Literature Podcast 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.
August 2, 2022
The History of Literature #423 – Roger Ebert
Jacke spends his birthday reflecting on Chicago film critic Roger Ebert (1942-2013), the Judd Apatow show Freaks and Geeks, and other literature-and-life topics. Enjoy!
Additional listening suggestions:
421 HOL Goes to the Movies
79 Music that Melts the Stars – Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
149 Raising Readers (aka The Power of Literature in an Imperfect World
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 http://www.thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature.
August 1, 2022
The History of Literature #422 – Wallace Stegner (with Melodie Edwards)
During his lifetime, Wallace Stegner (1909-1993) became famous for his prizewinning fiction and autobiographical works; his dedication to environmental causes; and his initiation of the creative writing program at Stanford University that bears his name. His most celebrated works, including Angle of Repose, The Spectator Bird, and Crossing to Safety are still much-loved and widely read – even as accusations have emerged that in at least one instance, Stegner appropriated and plagiarized the work of another writer. In this episode, Jacke talks to Melodie Edwards, independent bookstore owner and host of the Peabody-nominated, Murrow-winning podcast The Modern West (produced by Wyoming Public Radio and PRX) about the “dean of American western writing” and his complicated legacy.
Additional listening suggestions:
284 Westerns (with Anna North)308 New Westerns (with Anna North)Raymond Carver (with Tom Perrotta)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.
July 13, 2022
The History of Literature #421 – HOL Goes to the Movies (A Best-of Episode with Brian Price, Meg Tilly, and Mike Palindrome)
Summertime! The season for watching blockbuster movies in arctic conditions, heart-pounding suspense flicks that heat the blood, and cool-breeze dramas that stir the soul. In this best-of episode, Jacke celebrates the summer with portions of conversations with three previous guests, Brian Price, Meg Tilly, and Mike Palindrome.
Additional listening suggestions:
135 Aristotle Goes to the Movies (with Brian Price)338 Finding Yourself in Hollywood (with Meg Tilly)Alfred Hitchcock (with Mike Palindrome)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.
July 12, 2022
The History of Literature #420 – Honoré de Balzac (with Carlos Allende)
Very few novelists can match the ambition or output of French novelist Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850). A pioneer of the great nineteenth-century “realism” tradition, his novel sequence La Comédie Humaine presents a panoramic view of post-Napoleonic France. Containing something like 90 finished novels and novellas, Balzac’s achievement has influenced writers like Hugo, Dickens, Flaubert, and Henry James. In this episode, Jacke talks to contemporary novelist Carlos Allende (Coffee, Shopping, Murder, Love) about his love for Balzac and his works.
Additional listening suggestions:
Stendhal390 Victor HugoAlexander DumasHelp 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.
July 11, 2022
The History of Literature #419 – Christina Rossetti
It’s the Christina Rossetti episode! Jacke finally musters up the energy to finish what he started, and takes a look at one of the great poets of the Victorian era (and the creator of “Goblin Market,” one of the strangest poems he has ever read. How did this seemingly prim, even matronly woman, known for her religious devotion and for rejecting three suitors on mostly religious grounds, come to write such a bizarre and hedonistic poem? What did she say about posing for the pre-Raphaelites and their paintings? What did John Ruskin and Virginia Woolf say about her? Let’s find out!
Additional listening suggestions:
415 “Goblin Market” by Christina Rossetti306 Keats’s Great Odes (with Anahid Nersessian)Living Poetry (with Bob Holman)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.
July 10, 2022
The History of Literature #418 – “Because I could not stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson
Because Jacke could not stop for the scheduled episode topics, a certain poem kindly stopped for him. Luckily it’s one of the greatest poems of all time! It’s by the 19th-century American genius Emily Dickinson, and it packs into seven short stanzas a journey through life, death, and the cosmos.
Read a copy of the poem here:
Because I could not stop for Death – (479)
Additional listening suggestions:
120 Astonishing Emily DickinsonShakespeare’s Greatest Sonnets | Sonnet 29 (“When in disgrace with Fortune and men’s eyes”)379 Gwendolyn BrooksHelp 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.
July 9, 2022
The History of Literature #417 – What Happened on Roanoke Island? (with Kimberly Brock)
It’s one of the great mysteries in American history. The “lost colony” of Roanoke Island, where 120 or so men, women, and children living in the first permanent English settlement in North America simply disappeared, leaving behind nothing but a mysterious word carved into a tree trunk. While historians remain baffled, speculation has run rampant, with everything from massacre to relocation to space alien abduction taking their turns as potential theories. What happened to those people? And is there any way to tell their story? In this episode, Jacke talks to author Kimberly Brock about her novel The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare, which extends the mystery of Roanoke and its legacy from the late seventeenth century to the mid-twentieth.
Additional listening suggestions:
351 Mary Wollstonecraft (with Samantha Silva)382 Forbidden Victorian Love (with Mimi Matthews)99 History and Mystery (with Radha Vatsal)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.
July 8, 2022
The History of Literature #416 – William Blake vs the World (with John Higgs)
In his lifetime, the Romantic poet and engraver William Blake (1757-1827) was barely known and frequently misunderstood. Today, his genius is widely celebrated and his poems are some of the most famous in the English language – and yet we still struggle to comprehend his unique way of seeing the world. In this episode, Blakean biographer John Higgs, author of the new book William Blake vs. the World, joins Jacke to discuss Blake’s life, art, and visions.
Additional listening suggestions:
William Blake306 John Keats’s Great Odes (with Anahid Nersessian)58 Wyndham Lewis and the Vorticists (with Professor Paul Peppis)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.
July 7, 2022
The History of Literature #415 – “Goblin Market” by Christina Rossetti
As a devout and passionate religious observer, Victorian poet Christina Rossetti (1830-1894) lived a life that might seem, at first glance, as proper and tame. Even some of her greatest works, devotional poems and verses for children, strike us as just the kind of art a fine upstanding moralist might generate. But there was more to Christina Rossetti than that – and in fact, she produced some of the most passionate and idiosyncratic poems of her era. In this episode, Jacke takes a look at her long narrative poem Goblin Market (1859-1862), about two sisters seduced by the fruits being sold by a pack of river goblins, which is one of the most sensationally bizarre poems Jacke has ever read.
Additional listening suggestions:
95 The Runaway Poets – The Triumphant Love Story of Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning130 The Poet and the Painter – The Great Love Affair of Anna Akhmatova and Amedeo Modigliani382 Forbidden Victorian Love (with Mimi Matthews)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.
