Sylvia Plath (1932-1963) was born in Boston in 1932, the daughter of a German-born professor, Otto Plath, and his student, Aurelia Schober. After her father died in 1940, Plath's family moved to Wellesley, Massachusetts, where her mother taught secretarial studies at Boston University and Plath embarked on a path that she would follow the rest of her life: s ... Show More
Jan 19
768 Young James Baldwin (with Nicholas Boggs) | My Last Book with Bruce Robbins
The American writer and civil rights activist James Baldwin (1924-1987) spent the second half of his life as a fixture in American intellectual life. But what formed him? In this episode, Jacke talks to Nicholas Boggs, author of Baldwin: A Love Story, the first major biography of ... Show More
57m 5s
Jan 12
766 Gertrude Stein (with Francesca Wade) | Ruskin on the Only One Way to Get Art | My Last Book with Holly Baggett
Gertrude Stein (1874-1946) has long been one of the most famous - and most polarizing - figures in modernism. Was she a trailblazing genius? Or a literary charlatan? Her bestselling memoir of 1933, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, which made her internationally famous, only ... Show More
1h 3m
May 2023
Andrew Epstein on John Ashbery ("Street Musicians")
An episode I've been waiting for from the beginning: Andrew Epstein joins the podcast to talk about John Ashbery, one of the most important poets of the last hundred years, and his beautiful and haunting poem of mid-career, "Street Musicians."Andrew is Professor of English at Flo ... Show More
1h 28m
Mar 2023
Episode 532 - Priscilla Gilman
With her new memoir, The Critic's Daughter (Norton), Priscilla Gilman explores her relationship with her father, Theater Critic and Yale Drama professor Richard Gilman (as well as with her mom, literary agent Lynn Nesbit). We get into the perils of literary-kid memoir, the NYC bo ... Show More
1h 24m
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
The Callous Killing of Sylvia Fleming
This week, in a listener-researched and written episode, we head to Omagh in Northern Ireland, as we take a look at the brutal 1998 murder of 17-year-old Sylvia Fleming. On the cusp of adulthood, and with a difficult childhood now behind her, Sylvia thought she had struck gold wh ... Show More
1h 10m
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