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Artwork for The History of Literature

The History of Literature

Jacke Wilson / The Podglomerate
Literature
Shakespeare
Poetry
William Shakespeare
Ernest Hemingway
Emily Brontë
Charlotte Brontë
Jane Austen
Identity
Translation
James Baldwin
The Odyssey
Feminism
Henry James
Emily Dickinson
Sylvia Plath
John Keats
The Jolly Corner
The Great Gatsby
Abolitionism

Amateur enthusiast Jacke Wilson journeys through the history of literature, from ancient epics to contemporary classics. Episodes are not in chronological order and you don't need to start at the beginning - feel free to jump in wherever you like! Find out more at historyofliterature.com and facebook.com/historyofliterature. Support the show by visiting patreon.com/literature or historyofliteratur... more

PublishesTwice weeklyEpisodes792Founded11 years ago
Number of ListenersCategories
BooksArtsHistory

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Artwork for The History of Literature

Latest Episodes

It's an often-told, momentous story: how in the summer of 1816, four friends, including famed Romantic poets Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron, along with Mary Godwin (soon to be Mary Shelley) and Byron's doctor John Polidori, gathered in a Swiss v... more

United States President Abraham Lincoln and his assassin John Wilkes Booth were both deeply immersed in Shakespeare's works. And yet, the conclusions they reached about how best to end tyranny--a feature of both Macbeth and Julius Caesar--could not h... more

Henry David Thoreau was not a traditional Christian, and yet he was a deeply, profoundly religious man. In this episode, Jacke talks to Lydia Willsky-Ciollo about her book Wildness: Henry David Thoreau and the Making of an American Theology, which de... more

The kiss! What could be more romantic? And yet, as historian Katie Barclay discovered when writing her book The Kiss: A History of Passion and Power, she found non-romantic kisses to be even more fascinating. In this episode, Jacke kicks things off w... more

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Recent Guests

Lydia Willsky-Ciollo
Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Director of American Studies at Fairfield University
Fairfield University
Episode: 822 Wild Thoreau (with Lydia Willsky-Ciollo) | My Last Book with Douglas Clark
Gayle Weiswasser
Co-owner of Wonderland Books
Wonderland Books, Bethesda, MD
Episode: 821 A History of the Kiss (with Katie Barclay) | Wonderland Books! (with Amy Joyce and Gayle Weiswasser)
Katie Barclay
Professor of history, Macquarie University (Sydney); author of The Kiss, A History of Passion and Power
Macquarie University; Reaction Books
Episode: 821 A History of the Kiss (with Katie Barclay) | Wonderland Books! (with Amy Joyce and Gayle Weiswasser)
Amy Joyce
Co-owner of Wonderland Books
Wonderland Books, Bethesda, MD
Episode: 821 A History of the Kiss (with Katie Barclay) | Wonderland Books! (with Amy Joyce and Gayle Weiswasser)
Sonja Tiernan
All-Island Coordinator for the Irish Humanities Alliance at the Royal Irish Academy; author of a biography on Eva Gore-Booth
Royal Irish Academy; Irish Humanities Alliance
Episode: 820 Irish Radical Poet Eva Gore-Booth (with Sonja Tiernan)
Glenda Norquay
Professor Emerita of Scottish Literature at Liverpool John Moores University
Liverpool John Moores University
Episode: 819 Robert Louis Stevenson (with Glenda Norquay) | The Rise of HOT Literati | My Last Book with Olivia Wolfgang-Smith
James Bailey
Writer and researcher, author of Muriel Spark's Early Fiction
Author of Like a Cat Loves a Bird, The Nine Lives of Muriel Spark
Episode: 818 Muriel Spark (with James Bailey) | My Last Book with J. Michael Lennon
Mike Lennon
Biographer of Norman Mailer and editor
Norman Mailer, A Double Life
Episode: 818 Muriel Spark (with James Bailey) | My Last Book with J. Michael Lennon
David Womersley
Editor of the Cambridge Anniversary Edition of Gulliver's Travels
University of Oxford
Episode: 816 Gulliver's Travels at 300 (with David Womersley) | My Last Book with Daniel Mendelsohn

Host

Jacke Wilson
Host of The History of Literature, leading conversationalist with a scholarly bent

Reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars from 3k ratings
  • Remarkable Racist

    Jack says that if you ever use the word woke in a sentence, you are a 100% racist.

    Apple Podcasts
    1
    chubby baker
    United States4 months ago
  • Love this Podcast

    Wuthering Heights was a great discussion. I had to laugh at Jacke’s description of Heathcliff as compared to his young, squeaky clean self. We’ve all known how the opposite sex seems to be attracted to the bad boys/girls. Poor good Jacke. Great work for an interesting piece of literature! Refreshing not to approach it with a bit of humor! Thumbs up!

    Apple Podcasts
    5
    marketpop
    United States4 months ago
  • An incel rant

    Listened to the Wuthering Heights “analysis” and instead got an incel ranting about how he was “too nice” and that’s why no girl liked him back. Completely ignored a lot of the deeper themes of the book (ex. class, racism, and portrayal of female sexuality in the Victorian era) to talk about the “mysteries of the female mind”.

    Apple Podcasts
    1
    gb4600
    United States4 months ago
  • Too much fluff

    Found this podcast after searching for an episode on The Brothers Karamazov. I’m 40 minutes in and he has not even started talking about the book. It feels more like a personal therapy session than a book analysis/discussion.

    Apple Podcasts
    2
    tayshotzy
    United States5 months ago
  • A Virtual Round Table

    I love this podcast! Great guests. The company carries me right back to college class discussions about literature; I can’t shake the note-taking habit, but I do respond (a little) less out loud.

    Apple Podcasts
    5
    audrey e. w.
    United States6 months ago

Listeners Say

Key themes from listener reviews, highlighting what works and what could be improved about the show.

Many listeners value the breadth of guests across classic and modern literature and translation.”
Some reviews note long introductions and a slow pace but highlight the depth of analysis.
Listeners praise the host for engaging, scholarly discussions with strong guest lineups.

Chart Rankings

How this podcast ranks in the Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube charts.

Apple Podcasts
#51
United States/Arts/Books
Apple Podcasts
#148
United States/Arts
Apple Podcasts
#32
United Kingdom/Arts/Books
Apple Podcasts
#77
United Kingdom/Arts
Apple Podcasts
#184
Canada/Arts/Books
Apple Podcasts
#32
Australia/Arts/Books

Talking Points

Recent interactions between the hosts and their guests.

823 Abraham Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth, and Shakespeare in a Divided America (with James Shapiro)
Q: What does James Shapiro suggest about Shakespeare's role in shaping American democracy?
Shapiro argues that Shakespeare helped shape how Americans think about politics and society, offering a shared cultural vocabulary that could be deployed to discuss liberty, tyranny, and moral questions, not to prescribe a single course but to encourage reflection and debate.
823 Abraham Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth, and Shakespeare in a Divided America (with James Shapiro)
Q: How was Shakespeare used by politicians and pundits before the Revolutionary War?
Shakespeare appeared in public discourse in scattered forms—parodies, selective readings, and occasional productions—before 1776, with some groups using his works to comment on military preparedness and political events, though the plays were not yet saturating public life.
820 Irish Radical Poet Eva Gore-Booth (with Sonja Tiernan)
Q: What role did her poetry and Celtic myth adaptations play in her overall work?
Her poetry reimagined Celtic myths from a feminist viewpoint, elevating female leadership and equality, while engaging with Irish cultural revival and political identity.
820 Irish Radical Poet Eva Gore-Booth (with Sonja Tiernan)
Q: Who was Eva Gore-Booth and why is she important beyond her aristocratic background?
She was a poet, suffragist, and social reformer who rejected privilege to advocate for workers, especially women, and to reshape Irish literary culture through feminist perspectives and political activism.
814 Shakespeare in Translation (with Daniel Hahn) | My Last Book with Indira Ghose
Q: Can you explain how you choose to preserve or adapt Shakespeare's meter and rhythm across languages?
He explains that translators aim to preserve the dynamic energy of the original, balancing meter, rhyme, and tone with the linguistic realities of the target language, often prioritizing the overall effect and character voice over strict word-for-word fidelity.

Audience Metrics

Listeners, social reach, demographics and more for this podcast.

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Frequently Asked Questions About The History of Literature

What is The History of Literature about and what kind of topics does it cover?

This show offers deep dives into literary history, author biographies, and scholarly context across a wide range of writers and eras. Episodes commonly blend close-reading, biographical context, translation, and reception, often featuring expert guests such as academics, translators, biographers, and editors. Listeners can expect thoughtful analyses of classics, nuanced discussions of literary influence, and connections to contemporary culture through themes like translation, gender, nationalism, and publishing. A notable strength is the host's ability to host long-form conversations with distinguished scholars and writers, interspersed with literary anecdotes, readings, and sponsor reads that keep the cadence lively for a broadly educated ... more

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1. Backlisted
2. Literature and History
3. In Our Time
4. In Our Time: Culture
5. Close Readings

How many episodes of The History of Literature are there?

The History of Literature launched 11 years ago and published 792 episodes to date. You can find more information about this podcast including rankings, audience demographics and engagement in our podcast database.

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What guests have appeared on The History of Literature?

Recent guests on The History of Literature include:

1. Lydia Willsky-Ciollo
2. Gayle Weiswasser
3. Katie Barclay
4. Amy Joyce
5. Sonja Tiernan
6. Glenda Norquay
7. James Bailey
8. Mike Lennon

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