Podcast Episodes
Back to Search420 Honoré de Balzac (with Carlos Allende)
Episode 420
Very few novelists can match the ambition or output of French novelist Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850). A pioneer of the great nineteenth-century "reali…
3 years, 11 months ago
419 Christina Rossetti
Episode 419
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…
3 years, 11 months ago
418 "Because I could not stop for Death" by Emily Dickinson
Episode 418
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 t…
3 years, 11 months ago
417 What Happened on Roanoke Island? (with Kimberly Brock)
Episode 417
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 firs…
3 years, 11 months ago
416 William Blake vs the World (with John Higgs)
Episode 416
In his lifetime, the Romantic poet and engraver William Blake (1757-1827) was barely known and frequently misunderstood. Today, his genius is widely …
3 years, 11 months ago
415 "Goblin Market" by Christina Rossetti
Episode 415
As a devout and passionate religious observer, Victorian poet Christina Rossetti (1830-1894) lived a life that might seem, at first glance, as proper…
3 years, 11 months ago
414 Henry James's Golden Bowl (with Dinitia Smith) | William Blake Preview (with John Higgs)
Episode 414
Money. Sex. Power. Family. Those are the conceits at the heart of Henry James's late-period masterpiece, The Golden Bowl. In this episode, Jacke talk…
3 years, 11 months ago
413 Walt Whitman - "Song of Myself"
Episode 413
In this episode, we resume our look at Walt Whitman's life and body of work, focusing in particular on the years 1840-1855. Did Whitman's teaching ca…
3 years, 11 months ago
412 HOL Goes to War (with Elizabeth Samet, Matt Gallagher, and Tom Roston)
Episode 412
In this best-of History of Literature episode, Jacke revisits the topic of war and literature with three guests: Professor Elizabeth Samet (Soldier's…
4 years ago
411 Walt Whitman - A New Hope
Episode 411
In 1844, Ralph Waldo Emerson called for a new poet who would reflect the spirit and potential of America. In 1855, a then-unknown poet named Walt Whi…
4 years ago