For tens of thousands of years, human beings have been using fictional devices to shape their worlds and communicate with one another. Four thousand years ago they began writing down these stories, and a great flourishing of human achievement began. We know it today as literature, a term broad enough to encompass everything from ancient epic poetry to contemporary novels. How did literature develop? What forms has it taken? And what can we learn from engaging with these works today?

Article continues after advertisement

Hosted by Jacke Wilson, an amateur scholar with a lifelong passion for literature, The History of Literature takes a fresh look at some of the most compelling examples of creative genius the world has ever known.

On October 5, 1962, two items were released, hardly newsworthy at the time. One was Dr. No, the first James Bond film, and the other was Love Me Do, the first Beatles recording. Over the next sixty years, both Bond and the Beatles would become cultural juggernauts, with a reach and influence so vast that they can be hard to fathom.
What have those twin phenomena meant to the British psyche? And what have they meant for the rest of the world? In this episode, Jacke talks to author John Higgs about his book Love and Let Die: Bond, the Beatles, and the British Psyche.

________________________

Subscribe now on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Android, Stitcher, or wherever else you find your podcasts!

Article continues after advertisement

History of Literature

History of Literature

Hosted by Jacke Wilson, an amateur scholar with a lifelong passion for literature, The History of Literature takes a fresh look at some of the most compelling examples of creative genius the world has ever known.