60 Great Literary Endings

The History of Literature

Jacke Wilson

History, Arts, Books

4.6 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 23 September 2016

⏱️ 63 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Everyone always talks about the greatest openings in the history of literature – I’m looking at you, Call me Ishmael – but what about endings? Aren’t those just as important? What are the different ways to end short stories and novels? Which endings work well and why? In this episode, Jacke and Mike take a look at great literary endings, with some assistance from David Lodge, Charles Baxter, Leo Tolstoy, James Joyce, Flannery O’Connor, Samuel Beckett, Iris Murdoch, Uncle Wiggily, The Third Man, Donald Barthelme, Alice Munro, Henry James, E.B. White, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Mary Shelley, David Foster Wallace, O. Henry, Ian McEwan, Thomas Mann, and Joseph Conrad. Show Notes: We have a special episode coming up – listener feedback! Contact the host at jackewilsonauthor@gmail.com or by leaving a voicemail at 1-361-4WILSON (1-361-494-5766). You can find more literary discussion at jackewilson.com and more episodes of the series at historyofliterature.com. Check out our Facebook page at facebook.com/historyofliterature. Music Credits: “Handel – Entrance to the Queen of Sheba” by Advent Chamber Orchestra (From the Free Music Archive / CC by SA). *** This show is a part of the Podglomerate network, a company that produces, distributes, and monetizes podcasts. We encourage you to visit the website and sign up for our newsletter for more information about our shows, launches, and events. For more information on how The Podglomerate treats data, please see our Privacy Policy. Since you're listening to The History of Literature, we'd like to suggest you also try other Podglomerate shows surrounding literature, history, and storytelling like Storybound, Micheaux Mission, and The History of Standup. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	The History of Literature Podcast is a member of the Podglamorate Network and LIT Hub Radio.
0:07.0	T'was the first night home for the holidays and all through your town, not one thumb was quiet.
0:15.6	A lot of swiping going down.
0:17.8	You created the perfect bumble profile with care in hopes that your dream guy or gal may be out there.
0:24.0	When what to your wandering eyes should appear, but a shit ton of faces you haven't seen in years.
0:30.0	There's a Rando from high school, your ex from eighth grade, a kid you used to babysit, and
0:36.2	your literal Uncle Dave. As cringe as this feels, the only thing worse would be if one of them
0:42.1	stumbled upon your profile first.
0:44.9	But there's no need to panic or erase your face from the app.
0:48.2	You can go incognito with one simple tap.
0:51.8	Disappear from the others till you say they're a match, and have more fun finding
0:56.1	your next hometown catch. With peace of mind and your profile hidden from sight, happy
1:02.1	holidating to all and to all a good night. Happy
1:05.9	Holidating with Incognito mode from Bumble. Download today.
1:09.7	Hello everyone this is Jack Wilson, the host of the History of Literature
1:14.4	podcast I'm so glad you're here and welcome to the show one quick note
1:19.1	before we begin you have found one of the oldest episodes in our archive.
1:24.0	The show doesn't discuss literature in chronological order,
1:27.5	so you won't be missing anything if you start with the more recent episodes instead of the earliest ones.
1:33.0	And let's be honest, the show's quality has improved quite a bit since these early days.
1:38.0	But of course, where you begin is up to you, and if you'd like to give this one a try, please be my guest.
1:44.4	All of the episodes in the archive are yours to enjoy for free.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Jacke Wilson, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Jacke Wilson and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.