The History of Literature

• 701 Emerson's Struggle with Slavery (with Kenneth Sacks) | My Last Book with Victoria Namkung | We Had Sex Inside Moby-Dick!

  For several decades, Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) was perhaps the most prominent writer and intellectual in America. As an advocate of personal freedom living in Massachusetts, surrounded by passionate abolitionists, one might expect that his positions regarding slavery would be obvious and uncomplicated. And yet, Emerson struggled with the issue - not whether it was wrong (he was opposed to it), but the extent to which it obliged him or others to take action, and if so, how best to act in a way consistent with his philosophical principles. In this episode, Jacke talks to author Kenneth Sacks (Emerson's Civil Wars: Spirit in Society in the Age of Abolition) about what Emerson's wavering between self-reliance and collective action can tell us about who he was as a thinker and person - and whether his journey has lessons for the rest of us. PLUS Victoria Namkung (An Immortal Book: Selected Writings by Sui Sin Far) stops by to discuss her choice for the last book she will ever read. AND ALSO Jacke jumps into the belly of the clickbait whale, following the headline "We Had Sex Inside Moby-Dick!" to learn about Japan's love hotels and their connection(?) to the Herman Melville classic. Additional listening: 667 Sui Sin Far with Victoria Namkung 603 Rethinking Ralph Waldo Emerson (with James Marcus) 111 The Americanest American - Ralph Waldo Emerson 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

  --------  

  1:11:31
• Introducing The World with Marco Werman

  Jacke encourages you to check out The World with Marco Werman. It is an in-depth global news show covering American topics from the perspectives of those outside the US. We highly recommend it as a great complement to The History of Literature.

  --------  

  2:22
• 700 - Butterflies at Rest

  Returning to some devastating news after a trip to Paris, Jacke searches for lost time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  --------  

  28:08
• 699 Gatsby's Daisy (with Rachel Feder) | My Last Book with Francesca Peacock

  F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby might be one hundred years old, but it's still incredibly relevant: one list-of-lists site ranks it as the number-one book of all time. In this episode, Jacke talks to author Rachel Feder about this classic tale of reinvention - and the reinventing she did for her book Daisy, which retells the Gatsby story from the perspective of a messy, ambitious, and possibly devious 1990s teen poet. PLUS Francesca Peacock (Pure Wit: The Revolutionary Life of Margaret Cavendish) stops by to discuss her choice for the last book she will ever read. Additional listening: 583 Margaret Cavendish (with Francesca Peacock) 281 The Great Gatsby Gatsby Turns 100 (with James West) 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

  --------  

  1:12:12
• 698 Dante in Love (with Ellen Nerenberg and Anthony Valerio) [Ad-Free Archive Edition]

  It's springtime! A great time to be in love - and if you're a poetic genius like Dante Alighieri, a great time to catch a glimpse of a girl named Beatrice on the streets of Florence, fall madly in love with her, and spend the rest of your life beatifying her in verse. In this episode, we present a conversation that first aired in February 2018, in which Jacke talks to Anthony Valerio and Professor Ellen Nerenberg about their love for Dante and his great prose-and-poetry love story, La Vita Nuova. Additional listening: 650 Dante's Divine Comedy (with Joseph Luzzi) 589 Dante and Friendship (with Elizabeth Coggeshall) 469 A Room with a View by E.M. Forster (with Gina Buonaguro) 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

  --------  

  1:05:26

More Arts podcasts

Trending Arts podcasts

About The History of Literature