Literature Podcasts
Librivox: Favole di Jean de La Fontaine: Libro 07 by La Fontaine, Jean deJoin Now to Follow
Nei 12 volumi delle "Favole" (1669 - 1693) Jean de La Fontaine rinnovò la tradizione esopica, rappresentando la commedia umana. Quest'opera dimostrò il suo amore per la vita rurale e attraverso animali simbolici ironizzò sulla vita della società dell'epoca. In the 12 volumes/books of "Favole" (1669 - 1693) Jean de La Fontaine renewed Aesop's tradition, representing the human comedy. This demonstrated his love for country life and by symbolic animals he ironized about his current years society's life. (Summary by Paolo Fedi)
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Librivox: Warlord of Mars, The by Burroughs, Edgar RiceJoin Now to Follow
Warlord of Mars is a Edgar Rice Burroughs science fiction novel, the third of his famous Barsoom series. John Carter continues his quest to be reunited with his wife, the princess Dejah Thoris, and discovers more fantastic creatures and ancient mysterious Martian races. (Summary from Wikipedia)
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Librivox: Favourite Chapters Collection 002 by VariousJoin Now to Follow
A collection of LibriVox volunteers’ favourite chapters. Some were chosen for being the key chapter in a great novel, others for the wonderful clarity with which great ideas are expressed, and still others because the reader did a wonderful job. Whatever the reason they were chosen, we hope they will give you as much pleasure as they did us. (Summary by David Barnes).
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Librivox: Daniel Deronda by Eliot, GeorgeJoin Now to Follow
In this enduring Victorian classic written in 1876, two stories weave in and out of each other: The first is about Gwendolen, one of Eliot's finest creations, who grows from a self-centered young beauty to a thoughtful adult with an expanded vision of the world around her. The second is about Daniel Deronda, adopted son of an aristocratic Englishman who becomes fascinated with Jewish traditions when he meets an ailing Jewish philosopher named Mordecai and his sensitive sister, Mirah. (Summary by Becky Miller)
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Librivox: Reginald by SakiJoin Now to Follow
Saki (December 18, 1870 - November 14, 1916) was the pen name of the British author Hector Hugh Munro. His witty, biting and occasionally odd short stories satirised Edwardian culture. Saki is considered a master of the short story and has been compared to O. Henry and Dorothy Parker as well as Noel Coward and Oscar Wilde (who clearly influenced Saki.) His first collection of short stories, Reginald, was published by Methuen Press in 1904 though these stories first appeared in the 'Westminster Gazette'. The stories in this collection are a foil for allowing the jaded and insider/outsider figure of Reginald to comment on some ridiculous or provincial attitude prevelant in upperclass Edwardian society, although one can easily recoginize these same attitudes in our society today. Long popular and well known, Saki's brilliant humour is as enjoyable now as it was almost a century ago. (Summary by Jason Xanthopoulos).
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Librivox: Discourse Upon the Origin and the Foundation of the Inequality Among Mankind, A by Rousseau, Jean-JacquesJoin Now to Follow
This work presents Rousseau's belief in the profoundly transformational effects of the development of civilization on human nature, which Rousseau claims other political philosophers had failed to grasp. Specifically, before the onset of civilization, according to Rousseau, natural man lived a contented, solitary life, naturally good and happy. It is only with the onset of civilization, Rousseau claims, that humans become social beings, and, concomitant with their civilization, natural man becomes corrupted with the social vices of pride, vanity, greed and servility. (summary by ej)
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Librivox: More William by Crompton, RichmalJoin Now to Follow
The second of Crompton's series of 39 books about William Brown, our cheeky 11 year-old protagonist. A hero to some, a dastardly villain to others, this book is structured round a year in his life. Starting with William waking up on Christmas morning and ending with him going to sleep the following Christmas Eve, there are the usual round of misadventures, misunderstanding and general mayhem in between. When a boy like William wakes up under a motto that says "A Busy Day Is A Happy Day" alongside a copy of "Things A Boy Can Do", the chaos is just around the corner. Includes the very first William short story - "Rice Mould". Often dismissed as childrens literature, the first few books of William stories were probably aimed more at an adult audience. They resonate with a distinctly English humour, but there are obvious echoes from 'Tom Sawyer' and 'Huckleberry Finn'.
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Librivox: Multilingual Poetry Collection 003 by VariousJoin Now to Follow
In LibriVox’s Multilingual Poetry Collection, LibriVox volunteers read their favourite public-domain poems in languages other than English. (Summary by David Barnes).
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Librivox: Sonnets from the Portuguese by Browning, Elizabeth BarrettJoin Now to Follow
Sonnets from the Portuguese, written ca. 1845–1846 and first published in 1850, is a collection of forty-four love sonnets written by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. The poems largely chronicle the period leading up to her 1846 marriage to Robert Browning. The collection was acclaimed and popular even in the poet's lifetime and it remains so today. Elizabeth was initially hesitant to publish the poems, feeling that they were too personal. However, Robert insisted that they were the best sequence of English-language sonnets since Shakespeare's time and urged her to publish them. To offer the couple some privacy, she decided that she might publish them under a title disguising the poems as translations of foreign sonnets. Therefore, the collection was first to be known as Sonnets from the Bosnian, until Robert suggested that she change their imaginary original language to Portuguese, probably after his nickname for her: "my little Portuguese." (Summary from Wikipedia)
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Librivox: Critique of Pure Reason, The by Kant, ImmanuelJoin Now to Follow
The Critique of Pure Reason, first published in 1781 with a second edition in 1787, has been called the most influential and important philosophical text of the modern age. Kant saw the Critique of Pure Reason as an attempt to bridge the gap between rationalism (there are significant ways in which our concepts and knowledge are gained independently of sense experience) and empiricism (sense experience is the ultimate source of all our concepts and knowledge) and, in particular, to counter the radical empiricism of David Hume (our beliefs are purely the result of accumulated habits, developed in response to accumulated sense experiences). Using the methods of science, Kant demonstrates that though each mind may, indeed, create its own universe, those universes are guided by certain common laws, which are rationally discernable. (Summary by Ticktockman)
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