In 1886, the twenty-six-year-old Anton Chekhov was practicing medicine, supporting his family, falling in and out love, writing pieces for newspapers at a furious pace - and gradually becoming one of the greatest short story writers the world has ever seen. In this episode, Jacke talks to Bob Blaisdell, author of Chekhov Becomes Chekhov: The Emergence of a L ... Show More
Jun 1
806 Robert Frost (with Adam Plunkett) | My Last Book with Ursula Buchan
By the middle of the twentieth century, Robert Frost was widely regarded as America's most popular poet, beloved for the simple, sincere verses that took readers on journeys through the wooded roads of rural New England, accompanied by Frost's wry observations and hardscrabble tr ... Show More
53m 22s
May 28
805 Robert Frost Finds a Friend [Revisited]
In preparation for next week's conversation with Adam Plunkett, author of a new major biography of Robert Frost (1874-1963), we revisit an earlier episode about the widely anthologized (and often misunderstood) New England poet. In this episode, which first aired in 2017 as Episo ... Show More
54m 48s
Dec 2023
Kadare, Gospodinov, Kafka and Dickens
The Palace of Dreams is a novel from 1981 that is ostensibly set in the 19th century Ottoman empire, but the Albanian writer Ismail Kadare cleverly smuggles in thinly veiled criticism of the totalitarian state presided over by Enver Hoxha. The book was duly banned shortly after p ... Show More
45m 7s
Oct 2023
The Landlady by Fyodor Dostoyevsky ~ Full Audiobook [drama]
The Landlady by Fyodor Dostoyevsky audiobook. Genre: drama In The Landlady, Fyodor Dostoyevsky draws listeners into the foggy courtyards and cramped rooms of St Petersburg, where a lonely young intellectual, Vasily Ordynov, searches for cheap lodging and a quiet place to work. He ... Show More
4h 20m
Feb 2024
Significant Others: A Sneak Peek at the Woman Behind Benedict Arnold’s Betrayal
<p>It’s been said that history is written by the person at the typewriter. But who did the person who made history depend on? Often, it’s impossible to find out. But once in a while, we get lucky, and the story was not only recorded, it’s really good.<br />Well that’s what this p ... Show More
7m 21s
Nov 2023
Elisa Gabbert on Sylvia Plath ("Lady Lazarus")
What a searching, stimulating conversation this was. Elisa Gabbert joins the podcast to talk about a poem she and I have both long loved, Sylvia Plath's "Lady Lazarus."Elisa is a poet, critic, and essayist—and the author of several books. Her recent titles include Normal Distance ... Show More
1h 42m
Feb 2024
A Very Victorian Scandal
In 1874, the most famous preacher in America, Henry Ward Beecher, was publicly accused of adultery. The story became one of the greatest sex scandals of the 19th century, and led to a shocking trial, in which Beecher’s accuser, Theodore Tilton, sued Beecher for ruining his marria ... Show More
1 h