Avram Maps the Sea of Dreams: Sinbad Between Myth and Memory

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Avram Davidson (himself) warms up for a lecture and pulls you aboard a lateen-rigged dhow to ask the irresistible question: where, exactly, did Sinbad sail—Borneo, Sumatra, Serendib, even Madagascar—or only through our imaginations?

Show notes:

• Paul Bunyan vs. Sinbad: why tall tales can still point to real shores

• Baghdad’s golden age, Harun al-Rashid, and merchants’ cargo lists like poetry

• Dhows, monsoons, “islands” that breathe (whale? turtle?), and apes near Sumatra

• The rukh/roc, Aepyornis eggs, and dagobas that look like giant eggs from afar

• Marco Polo, Ibn Battuta, and the joys of pure serendipity

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