Podcast Episodes
Back to Search716 Icelandic Folk Legends (with Dagrun Osk Jonsdottir) | John le Carre at the Bodleian
Episode 716
Since the first permanent settlers landed there more than a thousand years ago, Iceland has been perhaps the most unique and enchanting place in all of Europe. How fitting, then, for its people to ha…
Published on 2 months, 2 weeks ago
715 How Did George Eliot and the Victorians Respond to Climate Collapse? (with Nathan Hensley) | People at Museums Are Losing Their Brains! | My Last Book with Stephen Browning and Simon Thomas
Episode 715
What does it feel like to live helplessly in a world that is coming undone? If you're alive in 2025, you are probably very familiar with this feeling - and if you'd been alive in the age of Victorian…
Published on 2 months, 2 weeks ago
714 The Real Charles Dickens (with Stephen Browning and Simon Thomas) | Dickens and the Theatre
Episode 714
Charles Dickens (1812-1870) led one of the most colorful and interesting lives of any author. But while many of us are familiar with his unforgettable characters and fantastically successful novels, …
Published on 2 months, 3 weeks ago
713 The Odyssey (with Daniel Mendelsohn) | The History of Literature Podcast Tour!
Episode 713
Homer's Odyssey is one of the oldest surviving works of literature - and yet, somehow, it can also feel like one of the newest. The inventive narrative structure, complex hero, and surprisingly moder…
Published on 2 months, 3 weeks ago
712 Shakespeare's Greatest Love (with David Medina) | New Play About Shakespeare's Collaboration with Marlowe
Episode 712
He might be the greatest writer about love that the world has ever known. But as is so often the case with Shakespeare, the biographical record raises as many questions as it answers. How often did S…
Published on 2 months, 4 weeks ago
711 How Does Literature Handle Atrocities? (with Bruce Robbins) | My Last Book with Hemingway Expert Alex Vernon | Who Will Come to Jacke and Emma's Party?
Episode 711
For millennia, literature has represented humanity at its finest. Over the same period of time, human beings have been committing the worst acts of mass violence imaginable. How have authors addresse…
Published on 3 months ago
710 Weird and Wonderful Stories from Ancient Greece and Rome (with Paul Chrystal) | A BIG ANNOUNCEMENT | Two Listeners Follow Their Dream (And Create Something Amazing)
Episode 710
It's another action-packed episode! First, Jacke relays the story of a long-time listener who worked some mundane jobs before becoming an artistic bookmaker. Then Jacke talks to author Paul Chrystal …
Published on 3 months ago
709 Black American Humor (with Damon Young) | The Greatest American Joke Ever Told?
Episode 709
DAMON YOUNG (What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker: A Memoir in Essays) is a Pittsburgh writer and humorist. In this episode, Jacke talks to Damon about his work editing and writing an introducti…
Published on 3 months, 1 week ago
708 Science Fact and Science Fiction (with Keith Cooper) | AI Discovers a Work of Ancient Philosophy and Dreams Up a Reading List
Episode 708
For decades, writers and filmmakers have imagined worlds where characters can do things like watch a double sunset (on Tatooine, of course), or stand among the sand dunes of Arrakis, or gaze at the g…
Published on 3 months, 2 weeks ago
707 Emile Zola (with Robert Lethbridge) | Graham Greene's Only Ghost Story | My Last Book with Irina Mashinski
Episode 707
For years, listeners have been requesting an episode devoted to the French novelist, journalist, playwright, and public intellectual Émile Zola (1840-1902). In this episode, Jacke talks to author Rob…
Published on 3 months, 2 weeks ago