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Published: May 7, 2024, 5 a.m.

This week on The Literary Life, we bring you another episode in our \u201cBest of\u201d series with a throwback to one of our 2021 Summer of the Short Story shows. In this episode, Angelina, Cindy, and Thomas talk about E. M. Forster\u2019s short story\xa0\u201cThe Machine Stops.\u201d\xa0If you are interested in more E. M. Forster chat, you can go listen to our hosts discuss \u201cThe Celestial Omnibus\u201d in\xa0Episode 17. Angelina points out how this story made her think of Dante. Thomas and Cindy share their personal reactions to reading \u201cThe Machine Stops.\u201d They marvel at how prescient Forster was to imagine a world that comes so close to our current reality. They also discuss how to stay human in an increasingly de-humanizing world.\xa0

Past events mentioned in this episode replay:

Back to School 2021 Conference: Awakening

Cindy\u2019s new edition of Morning Time: A Liturgy of Love

Cindy\u2019s Charlotte Mason podcast The New Mason Jar

Commonplace Quotes:

Imagination, in its earthbound quest,

Seeks in the infinite its finite rest.

Walter de la Mare (from \u201cBooks\u201d)

from \u201cThe Hollow Men\u201d

by T. S. Eliot

This is the dead land
This is cactus land
Here the stone images
Are raised, here they receive
The supplication of a dead man\u2019s hand
Under the twinkle of a fading star.
\xa0 \xa0\xa0\xa0
Is it like this
In death\u2019s other kingdom
Waking alone
At the hour when we are
Trembling with tenderness
Lips that would kiss
Form prayers to broken stone.

The eyes are not here
There are no eyes here
In this valley of dying stars
In this hollow valley
This broken jaw of our lost kingdoms
\xa0 \xa0\xa0\xa0
In this last of meeting places
We grope together
And avoid speech
Gathered on this beach of the tumid river
\xa0 \xa0\xa0\xa0
Sightless, unless
The eyes reappear
As the perpetual star
Multifoliate rose
Of death\u2019s twilight kingdom
The hope only
Of empty men.

Book List:

Two Stories and a Memory\xa0by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa

Howards End\xa0by E. M. Forster

The Great Divorce\xa0by C. S. Lewis

Fahrenheit 451\xa0by Ray Bradbury

The Worm Ouroboros\xa0by E. R. Eddison

1984\xa0by George Orwell

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You can find Angelina and Thomas at\xa0HouseofHumaneLetters.com, on Instagram\xa0@angelinastanford,\xa0and on Facebook at\xa0www.facebook.com/ANGStanford/

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