The Library of Babel

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Exploring the Two Types of Magic in Magical Realism
It might be time for critics to acknowledge that magical Realism is a subgenre of fantasy
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Chen Malul
10

September 2024

The Man Who Collected all the Legends of the Jews
The Library of Babel is an email newsletter exploring the wonders of literature, history and magic.
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Chen Malul
10
We Need to Consider the Fact That Ancient Greece Never Existed
Then Why Do We Insist on Speaking About Ancient Greece? Because the Ancient Greeks Did.
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Chen Malul
2
The Greek Muse and the End of Biblical Prophecy
While the ancient Greek poets called upon the Muse for inspiration, the Jewish sages heard God's word in their sacred texts
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Chen Malul
7

August 2024

Episode 9: Brian Boyd on "Lolita" and Vladimir Nabokov
It's not every day that I get to speak with a world-renowned expert on Nabokov and his work.
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Chen Malul
9
1:12:07
Napoleon's Favorite Poet was Actually a Sophisticated Literary Hoax
How did the future Emperor of the French come to consider Ossian, the enigmatic ancient bard of the Celts, as a superior and more heroic figure than…
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Chen Malul
10
For J.R.R. Tolkien, It Was Always About Writing the Perfect Fairy Tale
"Faerie cannot be caught in a net of words; for it is one of its qualities to be indescribable, though not imperceptible."
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Chen Malul
14
Episode 8: Carl Abrahamsson and the Occulturation of Our Time
A great talk with an artist, writer and scholar who is partly to blame for this podcast and newsletter
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Chen Malul
 and 
Carl Abrahamsson
5
1:00:01
Episode 7: William Cook on "The Divine Comedy" and Dante Alighieri
Borges, my favorite writer, thought this is the greatest poem in history, so naturally I had to find out for myself (with the help of a faithful guide)
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Chen Malul
1:06:27
Episode 6: Dorsey Armstrong on "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" and the Arthurian myth
A conversation about a strange and beautiful medieval poem
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Chen Malul
45:51
Episode 5: Sonu Shamdasani on 'The Red Book' and Carl Jung
A conversation with the editor of the Red Book
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Chen Malul
46:11
Episode 4: Étienne Fortier-Dubois on 'Atlas of Wonders and Monsters'
A conversation about why worldbuilding in fantasy and sci-fi could never compare to our real, infinitely complex world, and other fun stuff
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Chen Malul
1:02:21
© 2024 Chen Malul
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