Arts Podcasts
Librivox: To Lesbia by Catullus, Gaius ValeriusJoin Now to Follow
LibriVox volunteers bring you 13 different recordings of To Lesbia by Caius Valerius Catullus (translation by Richard Burton.) This was the weekly poetry project for the week of August 5th, 2007.
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Librivox: Rautatie by Aho, JuhaniJoin Now to Follow
Aho's first novel Rautatie (Railroad), considered one of his main works, is a story of an elderly couple who hear about railroad first time ever and have a hard time imagining carriages with no horses. They eventually get around to trying it out. Juhani Ahon esikoisromaani vuodelta 1884, Rautatie, on kertomus maaseudun ukosta ja akasta, jotka kuulevat naapurikylälle saapuneesta uudesta ihmeestä, ilman hevosia kulkevasta vaunusta, ja päättävät pitkän jahkailun jälkeen lähteä sitä katsomaan. (Summary by Tuija Aalto)
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Librivox: Essays of Francis Bacon, The by Bacon, FrancisJoin Now to Follow
Voltaire was an atheist. Diderot was Enlightened. But trite titles seldom encompass completely the beliefs of any individual. And this one fact is certainly true when dealing with Sir Francis Bacon.The youngest son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, Francis was born in Strand, London, on Jan. 22, 1561. He went to Trinity College at Cambridge. He was elected to Parliament; he was Queen’s Counsel; he even became Attorney General before finally gaining the position of Lord Chancellor.But as do the careers of so many politicians, in 1621 his political career ended in disgrace.And yet, for all of this, both Diderot and Voltaire considered him “the father of modern science.” Others consider him only the father of the “scientific method.” (That process of collecting and organizing data.) Bacon’s “The Essays,” to which we now turn our attention, are–if they are nothing else–a delightful collection in decided disarray. That is, they seem to take no true progression. But an essay is not meant to be a treatise. And for all that, these essays are still a pleasure to read.Encompassing a broad field of interest, their largesse denotes the broad learning of this brilliant philosopher. It is therefore our sincere hope that the reader will, themselves, encompass these Essays. More importantly, we hope you enjoy them. (Summary by Carl Vonnoh, III)
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Librivox: Hard Times by Dickens, CharlesJoin Now to Follow
Hard Times, the shortest of Dickens's full-length novels, is set in the fictitious Victorian-England city of Coketown, where facts are the rule and all fancy is to be stamped out. The plot centers around the men and women of the town, some of whom are beaten down by the city's utilitarian ideals and some of whom manage to rise above it. The novel was written in 1854 and was a scathing attack on then-current ideas of utilitarianism, which Dickens viewed as a selfish and at times oppressive philosophy. Perhaps the novel's best features are its clever, ironic narration and the larger-than-life characters that push the plot forward, such as the upper-class banker and hypocritical braggart, Josiah Bounderby, and the fact-driven schoolmaster, Thomas Gradgrind. (Summary by Rosalind Wills).
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Librivox: Apology, The by Emerson, Ralph WaldoJoin Now to Follow
LibriVox volunteers bring you 28 different recordings of The Apology by Ralph Waldo Emerson. This was the weekly poetry project for the week of September 2, 2007.
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Librivox: Etiquette in Society, in Business, in Politics and at Home by Post, EmilyJoin Now to Follow
Far from being a proscriber of minutiae, Post the philosopher offers a way of living: “Manners are made up of trivialities of deportment which can be easily learned if one does not happen to know them; manner is personality—the outward manifestation of one’s innate character and attitude toward life.” Post gives us thousands of tips on correspondence, wedding planning, party giving and conduct in every public or private setting. (Summary from Bartleby)
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Librivox: Water-Babies, The by Kingsley, CharlesJoin Now to Follow
The Water-Babies, A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby is a novel by the Reverend Charles Kingsley, first published in its entirety in 1863. Though some of the author's opinions are very dated now, the journey of a little chimney-sweep water-baby through rivers and storms, under sea and over iceberg, is still a classic, wonderful children's adventure. Summary by Cori Samuel. Music from Berlioz's Roman Carnival Overture at musopen.org
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Librivox: בחורף In Winter by יוסף חיים ברנר Brenner, Yosef HaimJoin Now to Follow
This reading is in Hebrew. Yosef Haim Brenner (1881-1921) was a Ukrainian-born Hebrew-language author, one of the pioneers of modern Hebrew literature. Born to a poor family, Brenner grew up in grinding poverty. Brenner immigrated to Palestine (then part of the Ottoman Empire) in 1909. He worked as a farmer, eager to put his Zionist ideology into practice. Later he devoted himself to literature and teaching at the Gymnasia Herzliya in Tel Aviv. He was murdered in southern Tel Aviv in May 1921 in the course of the anti-Jewish Arab riots known as the “massacres of 1921″. Brenner published his second book, "In winter", in 1904. It is a collection of 4 stories about hardships of simple poor Jews living in small towns in Eastern Europe, at the time of anti-Jewish massacres in Russia at the turn of the 20s century. (summary by Wikipedia and Omri Lernau)
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Librivox: Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm by Wiggin, Kate DouglasJoin Now to Follow
Rebecca goes to live with her two stern aunts in a village in Maine. Her joy for life ends up inspiring them. (summary from Wikipedia)
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Librivox: Life in a Thousand Worlds by Harris, William ShulerJoin Now to Follow
A jolly romp, which could be described as Gulliver's Travels Through Our Solar System and Beyond, as written by C. S. Lewis on a rainy Sunday afternoon after one too many mugs of cocoa.
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