• Welcome to Season 4 of The Cosmic Library

    This Season, Meet Journey to the West’s Monkey King

    The Cosmic Library explores massive books in order to explore everything else. Here, books that can seem overwhelming—books of dreams, infinity, mysteries—turn out to be intensely accessible, offering so many different ways to read them and think with them. Season one considered Finnegans Wake; in season two, it was 1,001 Nights; season three, the Hebrew Bible. This spring, in a season titled The Hall of the Monkey King, we’re talking and thinking about Journey to the West, the fantastical Chinese novel full of action and comedy and spiritual adventure.

    Article continues after advertisement
    Remove Ads

    Guests for season four will include Julia Lovell, whose recent translation of Journey to the West is titled Monkey King; Karen Fang, scholar of literature and cinema at the University of Houston; Xiaofei Tian, scholar of literature at Harvard; and D. Max Moerman, scholar of religion at Columbia. The five episodes will come out weekly, beginning in early June.

    ____________________

    Subscribe, listen, and enjoy the engaging interviews as we bring you The Cosmic Library. Episodes are available for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, PocketCasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

    Article continues after advertisement
    Remove Ads


    The Cosmic Library
    The Cosmic Library
    The Cosmic Library explores massive books in order to explore everything else. Here, books that can seem overwhelming—books of dreams, infinity, mysteries—turn out to be intensely accessible, offering so many different ways to read them and think with them.





    Read More

    Luis Alberto Urrea on Creating Fiction From Family History

     Luis Alberto Urrea’s dramatic, heart-breaking new novel, Good Night, Irene, brings to light the heroic World War II service...

    We Need Your Help:

    Become a Lit Hub Supporting Member

    Lit Hub has always brought you the best of the book world for free—no paywall. But our future relies on you. In return for your contribution, you'll get an ad-free site experience, editors' picks, and our Joan Didion tote bag. Most importantly, you'll keep independent book coverage alive and thriving.