Best Jacke Wilson The Podglomerate Podcasts (2025)

1
699 Gatsby's Daisy (with Rachel Feder) | My Last Book with Francesca Peacock 1:12:12

7d ago1:12:12

1:12:12

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 sto…

1
698 Dante in Love (with Ellen Nerenberg and Anthony Valerio) [Ad-Free Archive Edition] 1:05:26

11d ago1:05:26

1:05:26

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 …

1
697 Race in European Fairy Tales (with Kimberly Lau) | My Last Book with Rolf Hellebust 1:21:03

14d ago1:21:03

1:21:03

Anyone digging into fairy tales soon discovers that there's more to these stories of magic and wonder than meets the eye. Often thought of as stories for children, the narratives can be shockingly violent, and they sometimes deliver messages or "morals" at odds with modern sensibilities. In this episode, Jacke talks to Kimberly Lau about her book S…

1
696 John Ruskin (with Sara Atwood) | My Last Book with Collin Jennings 1:00:25

17d ago1:00:25

1:00:25

John Ruskin (1819-1900) was a powerhouse of a man: writer, lecturer, critic, social reformer - and much else besides. From his five-volume work Modern Painters through his late writings about literature in Fiction, Fair and Foul, he brought to his subjects an energy and integrity that few critical thinkers have matched. His wide-ranging influence r…

1
695 Ten Indian Classics (with Sharmila Sen) | My Last Book with Adam Smyth 1:03:57

21d ago1:03:57

1:03:57

For the past ten years, the Murty Classical Library of India (published by Harvard University Press) has sought to do for classic Indian works what the famous Loeb Classical Library has done for Ancient Greek and Roman texts. In this episode, Jacke talks to editorial director Sharmila Sen about the joys and challenges of sifting through thousands o…

1
694 Apocalyptic Literature (with Dorian Lynskey) | My Last Book with Charles Baxter 1:07:02

25d ago1:07:02

1:07:02

For some reason, human beings don't seem to be content just thinking about their own death: they insist on imagining the end of the entire world. In this episode, Jacke talks to author Dorian Lynskey (Everything Must Go: The Stories We Tell About the End of the World), who immersed himself in apocalyptic films and literature to discover exactly wha…

1
693 Understanding the Wonders of Nature (with Alan Lightman) | My Last Book with Alan Lightman 1:00:13

28d ago1:00:13

1:00:13

In today's world of specialization, Alan Lightman is that rare individual who has accomplished remarkable things in two very different realms. As a physicist with a Ph.D. from Cal Tech, he's taught at Harvard and MIT and advised the United Nations. As a novelist, he's written award-winning bestsellers like Einstein's Dreams and The Diagnosis. In th…

1
692 An Investigation in Chinatown (with Radha Vatsal) | The Five Books (with Tali Rosenblatt-Cohen) 1:02:57

1M ago1:02:57

1:02:57

It's a two-for-one special! First, Jacke talks to novelist Radha Vatsal about her new book, No. 10 Doyers Street, which tells the gripping story of an Indian woman journalist investigating a bloody shooting in New York's Chinatown circa 1907. Then podcaster Tali Rosenblatt-Cohen stops by to discuss her experience hosting The Five Books, which asks …

1
691 The Making of Sylvia Plath (with Carl Rollyson) | My Last Book with Cheryl Hopson 1:04:05

1M ago1:04:05

1:04:05

Since her death, poet and novelist Sylvia Plath (1932-1963) has been an endless source of fascination for fans of her and her work. But while much attention has been paid to her tumultuous relationship with fellow poet Ted Hughes, we often overlook the influences that formed her, long before she traveled to England and met Hughes. What movies did s…

1
690 Coleridge and the Person from Porlock [Ad-Free] 1:06:26

1M ago1:06:26

1:06:26

[This episode originally ran on July 18, 2016. It is presented here without commercial interruption.] In 1797, the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge took two grains of opium and fell into a stupor. When he awoke, he had in his head the remnants of a marvelous dream, a vivid train of images of the Chinese emperor Kubla Khan and his summer palace, Xanadu.…

1
689 Thomas Kyd (with Brian Vickers) | My Last Book with Jonathan D.S. Schroeder 47:28

1M ago47:28

47:28

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 hi…

1
688 Georges Simenon 1:05:36

2M ago1:05:36

1:05:36

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 Maigre…

1
687 Gatsby Turns 100 (with James West) 53:29

2M ago53:29

53:29

"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 can…

1
686 Russian Poetry After the Cold War (with Stephanie Sandler) 55:32

2M ago55:32

55:32

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: …

1
685 Charles Chesnutt (with Tess Chakkalakal) | My Last Book with John Goodby 1:01:41

2M ago1:01:41

1:01:41

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 kno…

1
684 The Minister's Black Veil by Nathaniel Hawthorne (with Mike Palindrome) 1:29:36

2M ago1:29:36

1:29:36

What happens when a respected church leader shows up one day wearing a mysterious veil that conceals his eyes, offering no explanation - and keeps wearing it for decades? How will the community respond? What conspiracy theories will they develop? And how will an author like Nathaniel Hawthorne, writing a hundred years later, spin a New England sin-…

1
683 Marianne Moore (with Cristanne Miller) 1:12:13

2M ago1:12:13

1:12:13

Marianne Moore (1887-1972) achieved something rare in American letters: a modernist poet who was popular with both critics and the public. Famous for her formal innovation, precise diction, and wit - as well as her black tri-corner hat and cloak, which she wore as she dashed around Manhattan - she was lauded by T.S. Eliot (and numerous prize commit…

1
682 The Profound Wisdom of Black Life and Literature (with Farah Jasmine Griffin) [Ad-Free Re-Release] 58:55

2M ago58:55

58:55

As America closes out this year's Black History Month, Jacke dives into the archives for one of his favorite episodes, which featured a conversation with Columbia University professor Farah Jasmine Griffin about her book Read Until You Understand: The Profound Wisdom of Black Life and Literature. PLUS friend of the show Scott Carter stops by to tal…

1
681 The Jolly Corner by Henry James - Part 3 | My Last Book by Colm Tóibín 56:02

2M ago56:02

56:02

It's the conclusion to "The Jolly Corner"! Spencer Brydon lived in Europe for 33 years (as did his creator, Henry James) before returning to his childhood home in New York City. Europe has changed him - and he can't help thinking, as he observes a highly transformed New York, that he'd have been a very different person had he stayed in America duri…

1
680 The Jolly Corner by Henry James - Part 2 1:16:34

2M ago1:16:34

1:16:34

After spending decades in Europe, the American Henry James felt haunted by the idea that he'd given up something essential. Inspired by a trip home to New York City, the place of his birth, he wrote an astonishing story about a man who creeps through his childhood home late at night, searching for ghosts, and one in particular he's desperate to see…

1
679 The Jolly Corner by Henry James - Part 1 1:15:52

3M ago1:15:52

1:15:52

Although the writer Henry James (1843-1916) was born in New York City's Washington Square, he spent most of his adulthood in Europe, where he wrote such masterpieces as The Portrait of a Lady, The Wings of the Dove, and The Golden Bowl. Late in life, he returned to New York after a thirty-three year absence to find the city much transformed, as sky…

1
678 Fernando Pessoa (with Bartholomew Ryan) | My Last Book with Robin Waterfield 1:09:28

3M ago1:09:28

1:09:28

Jacke's been trying to come to grips with Portuguese modernist poet Fernando Pessoa ever since Harold Bloom named him one of the 26 most influential writers in the entire Western canon. But it's not easy! As a young man, Pessoa wanted to be, in his words, "plural like the universe," and he carried this out in his poetry: writing verse in the style …

1
677 Dylan Thomas (with John Goodby) | Emily Brontë and the Search for Hope 1:07:50

3M ago1:07:50

1:07:50

Dylan Thomas: brilliant poet or self-indulgent blowhard? In this episode, Jacke talks to John Goodby, co-author of the biography Dylan Thomas: A Critical Life, about the misconceptions swirling around the famous Welsh poet, and the approach that he and fellow author Chris Wigginton took in presenting a revealing and fresh introduction to Thomas's l…

1
676 "Mrs Spring Fragrance" by Sui Sin Far (with Mike Palindrome) 1:25:52

3M ago1:25:52

1:25:52

Mike Palindrome, the President of the Literature Supporters Club, joins Jacke for a reading and discussion of "Mrs. Spring Fragrance" by Sui Sin Far. The story, which takes place against a backdrop of waves of immigration to America in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (and the racist anti-Asian laws that followed), depicts an enterprisi…

1
675 Zora Neale Hurston (with Cheryl Hopson) | Jack Kerouac's Newly Discovered Writings 1:10:18

3M ago1:10:18

1:10:18

Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960) was the most published African American woman writer of the first half of the twentieth century; her signature novel Their Eyes Were Watching God is still read by students, scholars, and literature lovers everywhere. In this episode, Jacke talks to Hurston biographer Cheryl R. Hopson (Zora Neale Hurston: A Critical Li…

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Jacke Wilson The Podglomerate Podcasts

Podcasts Worth a Listen

1
The History of Literature

Jacke Wilson / The Podglomerate

1
699 Gatsby's Daisy (with Rachel Feder) | My Last Book with Francesca Peacock 1:12:12

1
698 Dante in Love (with Ellen Nerenberg and Anthony Valerio) [Ad-Free Archive Edition] 1:05:26

1
697 Race in European Fairy Tales (with Kimberly Lau) | My Last Book with Rolf Hellebust 1:21:03

1
696 John Ruskin (with Sara Atwood) | My Last Book with Collin Jennings 1:00:25

1
695 Ten Indian Classics (with Sharmila Sen) | My Last Book with Adam Smyth 1:03:57

1
694 Apocalyptic Literature (with Dorian Lynskey) | My Last Book with Charles Baxter 1:07:02

1
693 Understanding the Wonders of Nature (with Alan Lightman) | My Last Book with Alan Lightman 1:00:13

1
692 An Investigation in Chinatown (with Radha Vatsal) | The Five Books (with Tali Rosenblatt-Cohen) 1:02:57

1
691 The Making of Sylvia Plath (with Carl Rollyson) | My Last Book with Cheryl Hopson 1:04:05

1
690 Coleridge and the Person from Porlock [Ad-Free] 1:06:26

1
689 Thomas Kyd (with Brian Vickers) | My Last Book with Jonathan D.S. Schroeder 47:28

1
688 Georges Simenon 1:05:36

1
687 Gatsby Turns 100 (with James West) 53:29

1
686 Russian Poetry After the Cold War (with Stephanie Sandler) 55:32

1
685 Charles Chesnutt (with Tess Chakkalakal) | My Last Book with John Goodby 1:01:41

1
684 The Minister's Black Veil by Nathaniel Hawthorne (with Mike Palindrome) 1:29:36

1
683 Marianne Moore (with Cristanne Miller) 1:12:13

1
682 The Profound Wisdom of Black Life and Literature (with Farah Jasmine Griffin) [Ad-Free Re-Release] 58:55

1
681 The Jolly Corner by Henry James - Part 3 | My Last Book by Colm Tóibín 56:02

1
680 The Jolly Corner by Henry James - Part 2 1:16:34

1
679 The Jolly Corner by Henry James - Part 1 1:15:52

1
678 Fernando Pessoa (with Bartholomew Ryan) | My Last Book with Robin Waterfield 1:09:28

1
677 Dylan Thomas (with John Goodby) | Emily Brontë and the Search for Hope 1:07:50

1
676 "Mrs Spring Fragrance" by Sui Sin Far (with Mike Palindrome) 1:25:52

1
675 Zora Neale Hurston (with Cheryl Hopson) | Jack Kerouac's Newly Discovered Writings 1:10:18

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