Podcast Episodes

More John Keats

Episode 210

John Keats (1795-1821) was born in humble circumstances, the son of a man who took care of horses at a London inn, and he died in near obscurity. We …

6 years, 2 months ago

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Conflict Literature (with Matt Gallagher)

Episode 209

Matt Gallagher is an American writer who served in the Iraq War as a U.S. Army captain. He first became known for his blog, which was shut down by th…

6 years, 3 months ago

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John Keats

Episode 208

"Keats is with Shakespeare," wrote Matthew Arnold, and few would disagree. His life was short, but his poetry is deep and his legacy long enduring. W…

6 years, 3 months ago

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Agatha Christie (with Gillian Gill)

Episode 207

Agatha Christie is one of the most successful writers of all time - it's often said that sales of Christie's books are surpassed only by Shakespeare …

6 years, 3 months ago

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Karl Ove Knausgaard

Episode 206

Since the publication of the first volume of his massive novel Mein Kampf (or My Struggle) in 2009, Karl Ove Knausgaard (1968- ) has become a househo…

6 years, 3 months ago

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Saul Bellow

Saul Bellow (1915-2005) was born in Quebec, immigrated to Chicago, and became one of the greatest of the great American novelists. In 1976 he won the…

6 years, 4 months ago

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Living Poetry (with Bob Holman)

Episode 204

Fellow poet Naomi Shihab Nye says that Bob Holman's "life gusto and poetry voice keep the world turning." In this episode of The History of Literatur…

6 years, 4 months ago

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William Blake

Episode 203

Jacke takes a look at the astonishing life and works of William Blake (1757-1827), a poet, painter, engraver, illustrator, visionary, and one of the …

6 years, 4 months ago

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Chekhov

Episode 202

Jacke welcomes in the new year by taking a deep dive into the melancholy (and beautiful) short story "Gooseberries" (1898), by the Russian genius Ant…

6 years, 4 months ago

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Virginia Woolf (with Gillian Gill)

Episode 201

Through novels like To the Lighthouse and Mrs Dalloway, and essays such as "A Room of One's Own," Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) has inspired generations…

6 years, 5 months ago

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