Podcast Episodes
Back to Search69 Virginia Woolf and Her Enemies (with Professor Andrea Zemgulys) / Children’s Books
Early in her career, novelist Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) wrote a critical essay in which she set forth her views of what fiction can and should do. T…
9 years, 6 months ago
68 Listener Feedback and Thanksgiving Thoughts
It’s the Thanksgiving episode! Jacke and Mike respond to listener feedback and discuss some literary things to thankful for. Authors discussed includ…
9 years, 6 months ago
67 Pascal’s Wager and an American Election
Jacke digs into his origins in rural Wisconsin and offers some thoughts on race, literature, and the recent election. Also featured: René Descartes, …
9 years, 6 months ago
66 James Baldwin, Wallace Stegner, GB Tran, Lois Duncan (with author Shawna Yang Ryan)
What can we do to unlock the past? How do family secrets affect us? Author Shawna Yang Ryan has spent a lot of time thinking about these issues – and…
9 years, 6 months ago
65 Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (with Professor James Chandler)
By any measure, Mary Shelley (1797-1851) lived a radical life. As the daughter of William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft, two philosophers devoted to…
9 years, 7 months ago
64 Dorothy Parker
“She was a combination of Little Nell and Lady Macbeth,” said Alexander Woolcott. Dorothy Parker (1893-1967) wrote short stories, poems, reviews, scr…
9 years, 7 months ago
63 Chekhov, Bellow, Wright, and Fox (with Charles Baxter)
In this special episode, the revered American author Charles Baxter joins Jacke to discuss some of his favorite books, including works by Anton Chekh…
9 years, 7 months ago
62 Bad Poetry
Everyone loves and admires a good poem…but what about the bad ones? After discussing his own experience writing terrible poetry, Jacke analyzes the 1…
9 years, 7 months ago
60 Great Literary Endings
Everyone always talks about the greatest openings in the history of literature – I’m looking at you, Call me Ishmael – but what about endings? Aren’t…
9 years, 8 months ago
59 Flannery O’Connor
Flannery O’Connor (1925-1964) lived a life that, in retrospect, looks almost like one of her short stories: sudden, impactful, and lastingly powerful…
9 years, 8 months ago