The History of Literature

Dorian Lynskey, author of 'Everything Must Go,' dives into the cultural significance of apocalyptic literature and films, exploring humanity's obsession with doomsday prophecies. He discusses the evolution of these narratives from divine intervention to human responsibility and highlights how fears of catastrophe reflect contemporary anxieties. Additionally, Charles Baxter shares his choice for the last book he would ever read, tying in humor amidst existential themes. Together, they illuminate how storytelling can help us confront our fears.

Alan Lightman, a physicist with a Ph.D. from Cal Tech and a celebrated novelist, shares his unique perspective on the intersection of science and literature. He discusses his latest work, 'The Miraculous from the Material,' exploring the awe-inspiring wonders of nature from atoms to rainbows, and how this scientific insight amplifies our appreciation for beauty. Reflecting on his choice for the last book he would read, Lightman delves into themes of life, death, and the connection between storytelling and our understanding of the world.

Radha Vatsal, a novelist celebrated for the Kitty Weeks series, shares insights from her gripping new novel, No. 10 Doyers Street, where an Indian journalist uncovers crime in 1907 Chinatown. She discusses the struggles immigrant women faced in journalism, weaving personal narratives with historical context. Tali Rosenblatt-Cohen, a writer and podcaster, reflects on her experience hosting The Five Books, emphasizing how literature shapes Jewish identity and personal growth, and the importance of diverse representation in storytelling.

In this engaging discussion, Carl Rollyson, a noted biographer of Sylvia Plath, delves into the many influences that shaped her life before her infamous relationship with Ted Hughes. He highlights her passion for literature and film, exploring how these experiences enriched her creative spirit. The conversation also critiques the common narratives surrounding her complex legacy, while Cheryl Hopson shares her poignant choice for the last book she'd read, intertwining themes of love, loss, and family in literature.

Dive into the captivating tale of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who lost his poetic vision of Xanadu thanks to an unexpected visitor from Porlock. Explore the mysteries surrounding this infamous interruption and its impact on Coleridge's creativity. Discover the poet's struggles with opium, the delicate balance of inspiration versus distraction, and the unique relationship he shared with fellow poet Wordsworth. Reflect on how these themes resonate in the creative process today, alongside a whimsical look at Porlock's literary connections.

For centuries, the playwright Thomas Kyd has been best known as the author of The Spanish Tragedy, a terrific story of revenge believed to have strongly influenced Shakespeare's Hamlet. And yet, a contemporary referred to Kyd as "industrious Kyd." What happened to the rest of his plays? In this episode, Jacke talks to scholar Brian Vickers about his new book Thomas Kyd: A Dramatist Restored, the first full study of Kyd's life and works, in which Vickers discusses Kyd's accepted canon as well as three additional plays Vickers has newly identified as having been written by Kyd—exciting discoveries that establish him as a major dramatist. PLUS Jonathan D.S. Schroeder (editor of The United States Governed by Six Hundred Thousand Despots: A True Story of Slavery; A Rediscovered Narrative, with a Full Biography, by John Swanson Jacobs) stops by to discuss his choice for the last book he will ever read.Additional listening: 646 Discovering a Long Lost Slave Narrative (with Jonathan D.S. Schroeder) 48 Hamlet 332 Top 10 Things To Love About Hamlet (with Laurie Frankel) The music in this episode is by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal. Learn more at gabrielruizbernal.com.Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or historyofliterature.com/donate. The History of Literature Podcast is a member of Lit Hub Radio and the Podglomerate Network. Learn more at thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Belgian-born French writer Georges Simenon (1903-1989) was astonishing for his literary ambition and output. The author of something like 400 novels, which he wrote in 7-10 day bursts (after checking with his physician beforehand to ensure that he could handle the strain), he's perhaps best known for his creation of Chief Inspector Jules Maigret, who appeared in 75 novels or so. In this episode, Jacke takes a look at Simenon's childhood and relationship with parents, his marriages and affairs (he once claimed to have slept with ten thousand women), and the approach to narrative and prose that continues to delight readers and critics alike. Additional listening: 350 Mystery! (with Jonah Lehrer) 140 Pulp Fiction and the Hardboiled Crime Novel (with Charles Ardai) 420 Honoré de Balzac The music in this episode is by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal. Learn more at gabrielruizbernal.com.Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or historyofliterature.com/donate. The History of Literature Podcast is a member of Lit Hub Radio and the Podglomerate Network. Learn more at thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"I want to write something new," American author F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote in a letter to his editor, "something extraordinary and beautiful and simple and intricately patterned." Months later, he presented the results: the novel that would eventually be titled The Great Gatsby. Published in 1925 to middling success, the book has since become a candidate for the Great American Novel, selling more than copies in a month than the book sold during Fitzgerald's entire lifetime. In this episode, Jacke talks to Fitzgerald scholar James West about his work editing the Cambridge Centennial Edition of The Great Gatsby, which celebrates 100 years of this enduring tale of illicit desire, grand illusions, and lost dreams, delivered in lyric prose by an author writing at the peak of his powers.Additional listening: 281 The Great Gatsby 167 F. Scott Fitzgerald 539 Tender Is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald (with Mike Palindrome) The music in this episode is by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal. Learn more at gabrielruizbernal.com.Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or historyofliterature.com/donate. The History of Literature Podcast is a member of Lit Hub Radio and the Podglomerate Network. Learn more at thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For decades, the Soviet Union was unfriendly territory for poets and writers. But what happened when the wall fell? Emerging from the underground, the poets reacted with a creative outpouring that responded to a brave new world. In this episode, Jacke talks to Russian poetry scholar Stephanie Sandler about her new book The Freest Speech in Russia: Poetry Unbound, 1989-2022, which shows how contemporary Russian poetry both expressed and exemplified freedom - and how that initial burst of freedom has responded to subsequent geopolitical developments. Additional listening: 130 The Poet and the Painter - The Great Love Affair of Anna Akhmatova and Amedeo Modigliani 479 Auden and the Muse of History (with Susannah Young-ah Gottlieb) 501 The Naked World (with Irina Mashinski) The music in this episode is by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal. Learn more at gabrielruizbernal.com.Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or historyofliterature.com/donate. The History of Literature Podcast is a member of Lit Hub Radio and the Podglomerate Network. Learn more at thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Complex and talented, Charles W. Chesnutt (1858-1932) was one of the first American authors to write for both Black and white readers. Born in Cleveland to "mixed race" parents, Chesnutt rejected the opportunity to "pass" as white, instead remaining in the Black community throughout his life. His life in the South during Reconstruction, and his knowledge of both Black and white communities, made him one of America's sharpest observers of race in America during the postwar years. In this episode, Jacke talks to Chesnutt scholar Tess Chakkalakal about her book A Matter of Complexion: The Life and Fictions of Charles W. Chesnutt, which the New York Times Book Review says "asks the reader to see the 'First Negro Novelist' as he saw himself: a writer and student of American letters at a time when the literary marketplace struggled to take him seriously...a timely reminder of the influence of artists like Charles W. Chesnutt today, when perhaps only literature has the power to sustain us." PLUS: John Goodby (Dylan Thomas: A Critical Life) stops by to discuss his choice for the last book he will ever read.Additional listening: 526 "The Wife of His Youth" by Charles Chesnutt 677 Dylan Thomas (with John Goodby) 94 Smoke, Dusk, and Fire - The Jean Toomer Story The music in this episode is by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal. Learn more at gabrielruizbernal.com.Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or historyofliterature.com/donate. The History of Literature Podcast is a member of Lit Hub Radio and the Podglomerate Network. Learn more at thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices