The History of Literature Podcast
@holpod.bsky.social
A podcast for lovers of literature since 2015. Find us at historyofliterature.com.
"How quietly I begin again from this moment looking at the clock, I start over so much time has passed, and is equaled by whatever split-second is present from this moment this moment is the first" – Wendell Berry, "Be Still in Haste" #botd #books #poetry #literature
For more about the Romans, take a listen to @jackewilson.bsky.social's conversation with Edward J. Watts, author of The Romans: A 2,000-Year History. #books #history @basicbooksgroup.bsky.social
764 Two Thousand Years of Roman History (with Edward J. Watts) |…
What do we talk about when we talk about ancient Romans? For many of us, it's typically a fairly narrow slice of history: the toga-clad figures of Cicero and Caesar…
historyofliterature.com
Los Angeles Review of Books@lareviewofbooks.bsky.social · yesterday"Watts’s stress on the 'adaptability' of Rome produces a strangely efficient and benign portrait of empire" Harry Sidebottom explores Edward Watts's "The Romans: A 2,000-Year History": http://lareviewofbooks.org/article/romans-2000-year-history-edward-watts-political-historiography
"We look before and after, And pine for what is not: Our sincerest laughter With some pain is fraught; Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought." – Percy Bysshe Shelley, "To a Skylark" #botd #books #literature #poetry
464 Percy Bysshe Shelley - The Mature Years
Following up on Episode 446 Percy Bysshe Shelley - The Early Years, Jacke takes a look at the final five years of Percy Bysshe Shelley's life, from 1817-1822, as th…
historyofliterature.com
The kiss! What could be more romantic? In this episode, @jackewilson.bsky.social talks to author Katie Barclay about her new book, The Kiss: A History of Passion and Power. #books #literature @uchicagopress.bsky.social @reaktionbooks.bsky.social
821 A History of the Kiss (with Katie Barclay) | Wonderland Book…
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-…
historyofliterature.com
James Baldwin, b. Aug 2, 1924 In this episode, @jackewilson.bsky.social talks to Nicholas Boggs, author of Baldwin: A Love Story, the first major biography of James Baldwin in three decades. #books #literature #biography @fsgbooks.bsky.social
768 Young James Baldwin (with Nicholas Boggs) | My Last Book wit…
The American writer and civil rights activist James Baldwin (1924-1987) spent the second half of his life as a fixture in American intellectual life. But what forme…
historyofliterature.com
Colm Tóibín first read James Baldwin (b. Aug 2, 1924) just after turning eighteen. Inspired by the illumination and insight in Baldwin's Go Tell It on the Mountain, Tóibín would soon become a lifelong fan. Listen to this episode for more about Baldwin. #books #literature @uchicagopress.bsky.social
661 James Baldwin (with Colm Tóibín)
Acclaimed Irish novelist Colm Tóibín first read James Baldwin just after turning eighteen. Inspired by the illumination and insight in Baldwin's Go Tell It on the M…
historyofliterature.com
"All visible objects, man, are but as pasteboard masks. But in each event—in the living act, the undoubted deed—there, some unknown but still reasoning thing puts forth the mouldings of its features from behind the unreasoning mask." – Herman Melville, August 1, 1819 #books #literature
481 Moby Dick - 10 Essential Questions (Part One)
Here we go! Moby-Dick; or, the Whale (1851) by Herman Melville is one of the greatest - and strangest - novels you will ever read. Call it what you will - a literar…
historyofliterature.com
"A country is considered the more civilised the more the wisdom and efficiency of its laws hinder a weak man from becoming too weak and a powerful one too powerful." – Primo Levi #botd #books #literature #history
"The silence folded in about the heart Whispers strange longings to the broken soul" – Eva Gore-Booth, "The Incarnate" In Episode 820, @jackewilson.bsky.social talks to Sonja Tiernan about her book Eva Gore-Booth: Irish Radical Poet, Rebel, and Reformer. #books #literature @manchesterup.bsky.social
820 Irish Radical Poet Eva Gore-Booth (with Sonja Tiernan)
After reading an email from a listener in Ghana, Jacke talks to Sonja Tiernan about her book Eva Gore-Booth: Irish Radical Poet, Rebel, and Reformer, which tells th…
historyofliterature.com
From the archives, celebrating Emily Brontë #botd In Episode 763, @jackewilson.bsky.social takes a look at the five reviews of Wuthering Heights that Emily Brontë clipped and kept in her desk drawer between the book's publication and her tragically early death at the age of 30. #books #literature
763 Emily's Desk Drawer
After the publication of her debut novel Wuthering Heights in December of 1847, Emily Brontë - still writing under her pen name Ellis Bell - joined Currer and Acton…
historyofliterature.com
For more about Stein, take a listen to @jackewilson.bsky.social's conversation with Stein biographer Francesca Wade. #books #literature #biography @scribnerbooks.bsky.social @simonandschuster.bsky.social
766 Gertrude Stein (with Francesca Wade) | Ruskin on the Only On…
Gertrude Stein (1874-1946) has long been one of the most famous - and most polarizing - figures in modernism. Was she a trailblazing genius? Or a literary charlatan…
historyofliterature.com
Publishers Weekly@publisherswkly.bsky.social · last wk.A recent cluster of genre-spanning books variously interpret, adapt, and play with the life and legacy of the modernist icon, as well as that of her longtime partner Alice B. Toklas. Their shared subject matter is probably a coincidence—or is it?
Loved this episode with Glenda Norquay! As a young boy, I fell into the spell of Treasure Island and Kidnapped. I just re-read Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, and appreciated it more as an adult. Robert Louis Stevenson lived such an interesting life.
@drjamesbailey.bsky.social She hasn't been able to put it down. She's even bought it out with her. She days it's brilliant.
"Each image fits into place, with the calm Of not having too many, of having just enough. We live in the sigh of our present." – John Ashbery, "Blue Sonata" #botd #books #literature
#WashingtonIrving (1783–1859) is often considered America’s first professional writer. In A Washington Irving Sketch Book, Phillip Lopate reflects on Irving & his extensive body of work through a series of warmly sympathetic sketches. Out Aug 18. Preorder yours: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
You’ve seen the movie, you’ve read the fiery social media posts and reviews; now, you can discuss Christopher Nolan’s controversial blockbuster adaptation of the Odyssey with translator Daniel Mendelsohn in a conversation hosted by the NYRB: buff.ly/2cd1tni
"Books give not wisdom where none was before. But where some is, there reading makes it more." – Elizabeth Hardwick #botd #books #literature
Why Christians make the best kissers: From saints and relics to #MeToo, this fascinating history traces the surprising cultural power of the humble snog 📌 buff.ly/DtyReD4 📚 buff.ly/6eXU5Ax
In this episode, @jackewilson.bsky.social talks to biographer Glenda Norquay (Robert Louis Stevenson: A Critical Life) about the amazing life of Robert Louis Stevenson, the Scottish author of classic works like Kidnapped and Treasure Island. #books #literature @reaktionbooks.bsky.social
819 Robert Louis Stevenson (with Glenda Norquay) | The Rise of H…
After discussing a news article detailing the rise of "hot literati," Jacke talks to biographer Glenda Norquay (Robert Louis Stevenson: A Critical Life) about the a…
historyofliterature.com
Need more Balzac in your life? LOST ILLUSIONS starts on Aug 1 #balzactogether #Wrote94novelsin51years
"The sight of an old man clinging to life with so desperate a courage, gave a fresh turn to his ideas, and inspired him with new courage." – Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo #botd #books #literature #alexandredumas
"To use the majesty of law for revenging any petty act of private spite is to make a public confession of weakness, cowardice and an ignoble spirit." – Robert Graves, I, Claudius #botd #books #literature
"Time makes everything mean and shabby and wrinkled. The tragedy of life, Howard, is not that the beautiful things die young, but that they grow old and mean." – Raymond Chandler, The Long Goodbye #botd #books #literature #crimefiction
"Love easily confuses us because it is always in flux between illusion and substance, between memory and wish, between contentment and need." – Tom Robbins, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues #botd #books #literature
"Yes, life could at times be so brutal that the only things that made it livable were dreams." – Buchi Emecheta, The Joys of Motherhood #botd #books #literature
"That was a very strange night. I do not know what I had expected, death perhaps and shooting in the dark and running, but nothing happened." – Ernest Hemingway From the archives, in Episode 750, @jackewilson.bsky.social talks to Mark Cirino about Hemingway #botd #books #literature
750 A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway (with Mark Cirino) | …
It's the 750th episode of the History of Literature, and what better way to celebrate than to talk some Hemingway with repeat guest Mark Cirino? In this episode, Ja…
historyofliterature.com
It was such a pleasure talking to @drjamesbailey.bsky.social for this - and such a fascinating book! Unputdownable!
The History of Literature Podcast@holpod.bsky.social · 2w agoIn Episode 818, @jackewilson.bsky.social talks to author James Bailey about his critically acclaimed biography Like a Cat Loves a Bird: The Nine Lives of Muriel Spark. #books #literature @princetonupress.bsky.social
In Episode 818, @jackewilson.bsky.social talks to author James Bailey about his critically acclaimed biography Like a Cat Loves a Bird: The Nine Lives of Muriel Spark. #books #literature @princetonupress.bsky.social
818 Muriel Spark (with James Bailey) | My Last Book with J. Mich…
Jacke talks to author James Bailey about his critically acclaimed biography Like a Cat Loves a Bird: The Nine Lives of Muriel Spark. PLUS J. Michael Lennon, friend …
historyofliterature.com
