The Library of Babel

A story of a man with a peculiar condition, and how he gets around.

E. M. Forster's classic allegory of modern progress.

This is the second of two stories with the theme "Cats Who Are More Than Just Cats." It's by Saki, who wrote our previous episode "Sredni Vashtar;" the tone on this one is similarly biting and funny. It concerns a cat who is taught to speak, and then proceeds to embarrass his owner and her friends.

This is part of the WHPK radio brodcast on June 1st, 2009 - the theme is "Cats Who Are More Than Just Cats." This story is from Roald Dahl, and concerns a woman who believes her cat is the composer Franz Liszt, reincarnated.

This was written, produced, and performed by me in a single day for the University of Chicago Scavenger Hunt.

Second half of the Flannery O'Connor broadcast. This story concerns a one-armed tramp who comes to live with an old woman and her mentally disabled daughter.

This is the first half of the May 4th radio broadcast at WHPK. Flannery O'Connor was the high queen of the mid-20th century Southern Gothic school; her work features heavy delving into the grotesque, Christ-haunted cultures of the South. This particular story takes up themes of redemption, the Old South vs. the New, justice and punishment, among others.

This piece is a companion to episode 25; both were read live on-air at WHPK in Hyde Park. The story concerns a man who, as a reward for solving the greatest problem in theoretical physics, is sent to view the birth of a nearby star up-close.

This story was read live on the air at WHPK 88.5 fm Chicago. It's a companion piece to episode 26, Close Encounter With the Deity. Both stories concern man, God, and the cosmos. In this story, a series of character dialogues take place over several hundred billion years; each is concerned with the fate of the universe. It's a good story, and it displays Asimov's fondness for future histories, exaggerated to the greatest extreme possible.

This short, fun piece is by the old master of the short form, O Henry. This episode is no longer available through this service, but can be found and downloaded online here: http://www.mediafire.com/?gpity8thbang466

Shirley Jackson wrote of this, her most famous story, "I hoped, by setting a particularly brutal ancient rite in the present and in my own village to shock the story's readers with a graphic dramatization of the pointless violence and general inhumanity in their own lives."

This episode is no longer available through this service, but can be found and downloaded online here:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/78kk848qldqyn2y/Episode%2023_%20The%20Lottery%20by%20Shirley%20J.mp3

This is a brief story by British author Saki, AKA Hector Hugh Munro (1870 - 1916). Saki was a brilliant satirist, and this piece is particularly fun; it reminds me of Roald Dahl, mixed with some of the Screwtape Letters' sense of British life and attitudes.

This episode is no longer available through this service, but can be found and downloaded online here:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/a3r9slbc9p22afd/Episode%2022_%20Sredni%20Vashtar%20by%20Saki.mp3

The poems are:
If, Rudyard Kipling;
Ozymandias, Percy Byshhe Shelley;
Song of Myself (selections), Walt Whitman;
Invictus, William Ernest Henley;
Vitae Lampada, Sir Henry Newbolt;
The Road Not Taken, Robert Frost;
Sea Fever, John Masefield

This episode is no longer available through this service, but can be found and downloaded online here:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/0lzz322pt827su0/Episode%2021_%20Seven%20Poems%20Every%20Boy%20Sh.mp3

This episode is a recording of a live broadcast I did on the local radio station. The story is a great one; the reading is a little shaky, but still solid enough to enjoy plenty.

This episode is no longer available through this service, but can be found and downloaded online here:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/exqdz4idi5i5vzq/Episode%2020_%20Jan%2012%20Radio%20Broadcast%20%28.mp3

This is a gentle, thoughtful essay on how people deal with the Civil War, and what it was maybe about. Although Walker Percy (1916 – 1990) is more famous for his novels than anything else, he is one of my favorite essayists. I particularly love his thoughts on life in the South, of which this is week's essay a small part.

This episode is no longer available through this service, but can be found and downloaded online here:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/ygrcousl239jhbj/Episode%2019_%20The%20American%20War%20by%20Walk.mp3

As part of my continuing fascination with ways for the world to end, and what people do about it (cf. Episode 11, the Portable Phonograph), I present this excellent work by H.G. Wells (1866 –1946), prolific science fiction author and prophetic genius. Note also that this work, like last week's 'Impostor' by Philip K. Dick, is shot through with problems of illusion, dream, and reality.

This episode is no longer available through this service, but can be found and downloaded online here:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/a11zaa5t5j5xwb9/Episode%2018_%20A%20Dream%20of%20Armageddon%20by.mp3

This is an illustrated satire in which I explained the pictures; it's a companion to the previous episode, since they're both so short.

This episode is no longer available through this service, but can be found and downloaded online here:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/83eb1hjqjp513vf/Episode%2017.1%20Natural%20History%20by%20Dona.mp3

Donald Barthelme(1931 – 1989) was an American novelist and master of the very short genre known as flash fiction, which episodes 17 and 17.1 are examples of. He had a very strange, surreal sense of humor, akin to the Pythons and maybe David Maliki of wondermark.com, an excellent webcomic.

So, this story is very short and fairly weird, but also darkly humorous and insightful. The narrator is a little more uncertain of himself than in the other pieces I've done, so I tried to portray that in the reading.

This episode is no longer available through this service, but can be found and downloaded online here:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/p7s5dzpcmm3ax5n/Episode%2017_%20The%20School%20by%20Donald%20Bar.mp3

Back by popular demand, my friend's list of 1001 unpleasant things, read as quickly and clearly as possible.

This is based on/inspired by George Carlin's "Things to watch out for."

This episode is no longer available through this service, but can be found and downloaded online here:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/t3zzvdq79sq0t7j/Episode%20X_%20Unpleasant%20Things%20by%20Dani.mp3

The first story in this episode is 'Impostor' by Philip K. Dick (1928 –1982). Dick was concerned with ‘reality’—what is imagined, what is true, how the line between blurs and why. A related concern is the problem of personal identity; Dick’s characters often discover over the course of a story that their worlds are elaborate false constructions, and their notions of who they are suffer as a result.

The second story is 'Armaments Race' by Arthur C. Clarke (1917 – 2008) . Clarke's works tend to focus on the details and impact of technological innovations, about which he has a much more optimistic view than Dick. The book I am reading from is Clarke’s Tales from the White Hart, which is a collection of short stories all set as narratives told in a bar called the White Hart, where influential thinkers and scientists gather.

This episode is no longer available through this service, but can be found and downloaded online here:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/9u9kwpe5na0y8hs/Episode%2016_%20Dec%2016%20Radio%20Broadcast%20%28.mp3

Ever wonder what Christmas is like in Holland? Me neither. But, thanks to the world-class humorist David Sedaris (1952 - present), you can find out. Sneak preview: if you spend Christmas in Holland, you may get beaten by anywhere from six to eight black men. Seriously.

This episode is no longer available through this service, but can be found and downloaded online here:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/5z2zr54i157pmf9/Episode%2015_%20Six%20to%20Eight%20Black%20Men%20b.mp3

So, John Donne was this excellent dude in the 17th century, which, if you look hard enough, you can see was full of excellent dudes.
John's poetic career happened in two stages. First, he got married to a wicked excellent chick who he loved so much that he wrote her excellent poetry, which continues to make my (anonymous) female friend want to 'jump [John Donne's] bones.'
Second, his wife died, and he started writing powerful religious poetry, like this poem. Donne got really sick, thought he was going to die, and penned this poem. Check out the excellent metaphor for death/heaven in the first stanza ('become Thy music'), and the cool parallels Donne draws among himself, Christ, and Adam in the final two stanzas ('As the first Adam's sweat surrounds my face [Donne's feverish sweating],/May the last Adam's blood my soul embrace). I really dig this poem. I hope y'all do, too.

I found the book, Fancies and Goodnights, in the Ellis Avenue Free Book Exchange, which is a little box on the street corner just down the way. The story's pretty short, so pay close attention--listen twice if you have to, to understand what is happening.

This episode is no longer available through this service, but can be found and downloaded online here:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/ce1lssizacujtvw/Episode%2014_%20The%20Chaser%20by%20John%20Colli.mp3

This week, a collection of a few shorter short stories from all over. The Stories are:

The Appointment in Samarra, told by W. Somerset Maugham
The Camel and His Friends, from the Panchantra, told by Arundhati Khanwalkar
The Snow Man, by Hans Christian Andersen
Godfather Death, from Grimm's Fairy Tales

This episode is no longer available through this service, but can be found and downloaded online here:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/6av6c6ec2p17r2i/Episode%2012.0_%20Introduction%20to%20Good%20P.mp3

This week’s episode is a bit of a departure; it is not a piece of fiction, but rather an essay—the introduction to a book that has been very important to me. The book is called Good Poems for Hard Times, and Garrison Keillor is the one who collected the poems and wrote the essay about it, which by and large speaks for itself, and for the book, which you should read, fellow readers.

This episode is no longer available through this service, but can be found and downloaded online here:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/6av6c6ec2p17r2i/Episode%2012.0_%20Introduction%20to%20Good%20P.mp3

In his book, Signposts in a Strange Land, Walker Percy talks about the secret desire of people in the modern world to see civilization swept away; "There is a secret longing in the reader either for the greening of America, vines sprouting on Forty-Second Street, or for the falling into desert ruins of such cities as Phoenix. Phoenix should revert to the lizards." I think he's right; this is pretty much the only good reason to watch, say, I Am Legend, if you ask me.

In this week's story, a few tattered remnants of civilization huddle around a machine most of my peers have never known, the portable phonograph, to try and recapture a small portion of what was lost. I love the setting of this story, and especially the ritual/religious overtones of listening to Debussy in a world cratered and fallen in. I worked extra hard on the music for this episode, so give it all a good listen if you can.

This episode is no longer available through this service, but can be found and downloaded online here:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/xv4whd4xc86chr8/Episode%2011_%20The%20Portable%20Phonograph.mp3

This is the Library of Babel special Halloween episode. The Cask of Amontillado is my favorite Poe tale. The story is well-paced, with just the right blend of dread and suspense building throughout till the climax. Enjoy, and Happy Halloween!

This episode is no longer available through this service, but can be found and downloaded online here:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/24qb0yqc2bwaii5/Episode%2010_%20The%20Cask%20of%20Amontillado.mp3

This week’s story is from Robert A. Heinlein, celebrated science fiction author of the twentieth century. “—All You Zombies—” concerns not the undead but rather time travel, especially time paradoxes. It can take two or three readings to fully understand, like any great time travel narrative (see, for example, the excellent, and wildly confusing, independent movie Primer), so if you end up listening to the story and not getting it at all, feel free to read it yourself:

http://ieng9.ucsd.edu/~mfedder/zombies.html.

This episode is no longer available through this service, but can be found and downloaded online here:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/e1vdt9lb11yeyyy/Episode%209_%20%u2014All%20You%20Zombies%u2014%20by%20Robe.mp3

This week, celebrated author Roald Dahl's classic tale of speeding in a blue BMW, and the consequences.

This episode is no longer available through this service, but can be found and downloaded online here:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/c2b14x51rj1yj21/Episode%208_%20The%20Hitchhiker%20by%20Roald%20D.mp3

This episode, a few of my favorite portions from Travels With Charley, John Steinbeck's story of looking for America in his old age. It's a really lovely work, poetically written, funny, charming, and just generally good to read when you get the itch to move, or when you want to hear someone else's stories of life on the road.

This episode is no longer available through this service, but can be found and downloaded online here:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/edzlkzrtmbdf8v6/Episode%207_%20Excerpts%20from%20Travels%20Wit.mp3

This story is Neil Gaiman's light-hearted take on H.P. Lovecraft's work surrounding the now-dead-but-soon-to-rise-again anti-deity Cthulhu. In it, Cthulhu dictates his memoirs.

I intended to publish an actual H.P. Lovecraft story this week, but my computer crashed. This is a fun story, though, so just try and enjoy the riffing on all the intentional strangeness of the Cthulhu mythos, even if you have no prior knowledge of it. I really have no idea what H.P. Lovecraft was up to re:Cthulhu, but this story is still hilarious. Enjoy.

This episode is no longer available through this service, but can be found and downloaded online here:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/26qdxqj6ve82oxj/Episode%206_%20I%2C%20Cthulhu%20by%20Neil%20Gaiman.mp3

In this story, a boy takes a bus to (humanist) Heaven. I first read this story in high school, and I've been oddly fascinated with it ever since. There's a lot of literary references going on that I missed the first few times I read the story, but I expect you all with be able to figure out what is going on. If, not, feel free to ask and I will totally tell you.
This episode is no longer available through this service, but can be found and downloaded online here:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/1b01ts2e7c26ec4/Episode%205_%20The%20Celestial%20Omnibus%20by.mp3

This story is from science fiction author Michael Bishop; it's about a demon named Scrimptalon, and how gets summoned to talk to a computer named SAL. The story is from a collection of Bishop's stories, pictured on the podcast website, entitled "Close Encounters with the Deity," the theme of which is the intersection of science fiction and faith.
This episode is no longer available through this service, but can be found and downloaded online here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?5gfw2zriprs2bcv

This episode is a short satirical story from the greatest American satirical writer, Mark Twain. If you have ever been or are planning on being a starving artist, this week's story will speak to you. The rest of you might get it, too.
This episode is no longer available through this service, but can be found and downloaded online here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?97qssx02p7ono18

Frank O'Connor was an Irish author of the mid-twentieth century; he composed many short stories, including this humorous tale about his first confession. I found it in "A Celestial Omnibus: Short Fiction on Faith," which is a thoughtfully edited collection of stories, named after a famous E.M. Forester story in which a boy takes a bus to Heaven.

This episode is no longer available through this service, but can be found and downloaded online here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?wx7op7es93afkup

This episode, our title piece: Jorge Luis Borges's "The Library of Babel." It's about a really, really strange and terrifying library.

This episode is no longer available through this service, but can be found and downloaded online here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?idxippiikc4g3s3