Not even imprisonment could stop the Marquis de Sade from writing his insanely intense, unrelenting erotica - and not even Sade's eventual death could stop his secret manuscript, temporarily hidden in a Bastille wall to protect it from looters and revolutionaries, from haunting its owners as though possessed by a demonic force. Now one of the most valuable m ... Show More
Jul 16
817 The Odyssey - Getting Ready for a Summer Blockbuster | My Last Book with Mary Beard
Jacke gets ready for the release of Christopher Nolan's Odyssey, the rare instance of a summer blockbuster based on a literary classic, with some help from classics scholars Daniel Mendelsohn (The Odyssey, An Odyssey: A Father, A Son, and an Epic) and Mary Beard (Talking Classics ... Show More
1h 30m
Jul 13
816 Gulliver's Travels at 300 (with David Womersley) | My Last Book with Daniel Mendelsohn
As a literary classic turns 300, Jacke talks to the University of Oxford's David Womersley about Jonathan Swift, the nature of satire, and The Cambridge Anniversary Edition of Gulliver's Travels, which Womersley edited. PLUS Daniel Mendelsohn, classics scholar and translator ofTh ... Show More
1h 10m
Sep 2023
365. Le Marquis de Sade: Sex and Violence
The father of sadism and a prophet of totalitarianism, the Marquis de Sade was a French aristocrat and writer, an uncompromising and unashamed libertine with the eerie ability to corrupt those around him. Arrested first by the French monarchy and then by the revolutionaries, he s ... Show More
56m 17s
Nov 2024
S07E03 - Literature⏐Salammbô, the quintessential femme fatale and the unique brooch by René Lalique
“It was in Megara, a suburb of Carthage, in the gardens of Hamilcar…”This is the opening sentence of Salammbô, Flaubert’s great historical novel, which has become a cult classic. Just like its heroine … the Carthaginian princess with dazzling finery and a tragic destiny.Salammbô ... Show More
13m 8s
Oct 2025
The Scandalous Royal Mistress Who Ruled France
Is this strangest threesome in royal history?!We're endlessly fascinated with the lives of royal mistresses, and this has to be one of the most notorious.It takes place in 16th century France between Henry II, his wife Catherine de Medici and his much older mistress, Diane de Poi ... Show More
37m 45s
Dec 2024
Sex Life & Scandal of Charles Dickens
Like it or not, there's no escaping Charles Dickens at this time of year.But who was the man behind classics such as A Tale of Two Cities, Oliver Twist and of course, A Christmas Carol?His life is as rich as many of the characters' stories in one of his books, including a brutal ... Show More
48 m
