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Joseph Eldredge's avatar

This was a great read! As it happens, I found this article, particularly with its questions on magic and modernism, very poignant because I am in an online course right now on magic and literature with Professor Adam Walker. This week we are reading Margaret Cavendish's The Blazing World. A feminist writer from the 17th century. The main character falls into the titular magical world through a portal at the North Pole. I wonder if there are affinities with Woolf where the freedom to imagine in the magical world becomes also an empowering 'room of one's own'. I may just read this book and introduce it to my fellow classmates. Thank you!

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Chen Malul's avatar

Thanks Joseph for this comment. Your course sounds fascinating! Never hear of The Blazing World. What are other works you guys are reading? I'd love to get to know them.

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Joseph Eldredge's avatar

Here is his article on the course! https://open.substack.com/pub/adamgagewalker/p/the-poetics-of-enchantment?r=4kvd2u&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false

We're reading Phantastes by George MacDonald soon which I'm really looking forward to :)

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Michael Patrick O’Leary's avatar

I enjoyed your essay but found the novel impossible to read.

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Chen Malul's avatar

Haha... What did you find difficult?

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Michael Patrick O’Leary's avatar

It was a long time ago. I am a voracious reader. I can read fast and I can read slow. I just couldn’t concentrate on Orlando. Perhaps I should try again utilizing the magic that is Kindle. I will use your essay as a guide.

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Douglas Lloyd Peck's avatar

Thank you for your excellent article. If you haven't already tried it you might be interested in the NotebookLM AI tool to get an AI analysis of your essays. You can copy and paste the text of your essay and it presents the analysis in several output forms, including a podcast conversation and a very thorough summary. I am using it for some of my blog stories and it is really fascinating to get the AI feedback this way. You can try it out with a free trial or sign up for $20/mo. at https://notebooklm.google/ Here is my book review of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness analyzed by this tool, presented as a podcast: https://notebooklm.google.com/notebook/ba0377e6-d5f9-43de-836d-9181c752bb33/audio

My blog is https://liveyosemite.wordpress.com/

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David Swindle 🟦's avatar

Excellent article. On point. Subscribed.

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Chen Malul's avatar

Thanks David. Glad you liked it

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