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    10/08/2024
    The Soul of Man cover

    The Soul of Man

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    Chapter: 6 | Listen: 2

    “(T)he past is what man should not have been. The present is what man ought not to be. The future is what artists are.” Published originally as “The Soul of Man Under Socialism,” this is not so much a work of sober political analysis; rather it can be summed up as a rhapsodic manifesto on behalf of the Individual. Socialism having deployed technology to liberate the whole of humanity from soul-destroying labour, the State obligingly withers away to allow the free development of a joyful, anarchic hedonism… “Is this Utopian? A map of the world that does not include Utopia is not worth even glancing at, for it leaves out the one country at which Humanity is always landing.” Far from abandoning the epigram in favour of the slogan, Wilde wittily assails several of his favourite targets: the misguided purveyors of philanthropy; life-denying ascetics of various kinds; the army of the half-educated who constitute themselves the enemies of Art – and those venal popular journalists who cater to them… “Behind the barricade there may be much that is noble and heroic. But what is there behind the leading-article but prejudice, stupidity, cant, and twaddle?” (Introduction by Martin Geeson)     [chương_files]  

    29/07/2024
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    Love and Friendship

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    Chapter: 3 | Listen: 2

    Begun when she was just eleven years old, Love and Friendship is one of Jane Austen’s stories that very few readers may have encountered before. Austen experts feel that this story was written, like many others, only for the pleasure of her family and friends. It is scribbled across three notebooks, in childish handwriting, and the complete work is thought to have been written over a period of six or seven years. It is dedicated to one of her cousins, whom she was very close to, Eliza de Feuillide. Eliza herself was an extremely colorful figure and is thought to have been the illegitimate daughter of the first Governor General of India, Warren Hastings. She was also a witness to the French Revolution where her husband, the self styled Comte de Feuillide was guillotined. For the young Jane, these events must have been sheer inspiration to a writer’s imagination. Love and Friendship takes the shape of an expostulatory novel. Written as a series of letters from Laura to a much younger Marianne who is her friend Isabel’s daughter, it is meant to apprise the young and flighty Marianne about the dangers of infatuation and falling headlong into romantic love. The book offers an early and crucial insight into Jane Austen’s style, her wonderful sense of humor and her take on contemporary society. At times, she portrays events almost in parody form, at others, she is sharp and critical, but as always, the typical Jane Austen brand of gentle, sparkling wit […]

    28/07/2024

    Magna Carta Commemoration Essays

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    Chapter: 19 | Listen:

    On 15th June 1215 the Magna Carta was sealed under oath by King John at Runnymede, on the bank of the River Thames near Windsor, England. 2015 is the 800th anniversary of this charter, which led eventually to the rule of constitutional law in England and beyond. This book of essays on various aspects of the Charter was written by distinguished academics for the Royal Historical Society to commemorate the 700th anniversary of Magna Carta. N. B. The readers in this project are not scholars of mediaeval Latin or French. Where there are passages or phrases of Latin and Old French, we have endeavoured to make them clear, but make no claim to authentic pronunciation.     [chương_files]  

    28/07/2024

    Nature (version 2)

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    Chapter: 9 | Listen: 2

    First published anonymously in 1836, Nature marks the beginning both of Emerson’s literary career and the Transcendentalist movement. Asking why his generation “should not also enjoy an original relation to the universe,” Emerson argues that “Man is a god in ruins” who might yet be redeemed by the renewal of harmony with nature. Encompassing themes that would preoccupy him for years to come, including the repressive force of social routine, the divinity of nature, and the creative potential of the individual, Nature reflected recent developments in European philosophy and literature even as it pushed American artists to break new ground. The book’s initial reception was mixed, but it influenced members of Emerson’s circle, including such luminaries as Henry David Thoreau and Margaret Fuller, and it would go on to inspire the work of writers ranging from Walt Whitman and Friedrich Nietzsche to Robert Frost and Ralph Ellison.     [chương_files]  

    27/07/2024

    LibriVox 8th Anniversary Collection

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    Chapter: 88 | Listen:

    For the past few years we have celebrated the anniversary of LibriVox with a collection loosely themed on the number of the anniversary year. This year is no exception.Readers have contributed 88 recordings in Dutch, English, French, German, Japanese, Polish and Yiddish, and this feast of fiction, poetry, essays, articles and musical items ranges from lectures to love letters, science to songs, travel to taxes, and politics to pirates, spiced with a dash of humour.It has, as always, been enormous fun for the readers and singers, and we hope that you, the listener, will gain just as much enjoyment as we have had producing it. (Introduction by Ruth Golding) Some additional notes: Section 5, Extract from The Eight-oared Victors, Chapter 35, was written by Howard Garis under his pseudonym Lester Chadwick. Section 37, Love Letters of Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn by Henry VIII also includes letters to Henry from Anne Boleyn (1501-1536). Section 53, Letters I to VIII of Political and Social Letters of a Lady of the 18th Century was edited by Emily Fanny Dorothy Osborn McDonnell (1851-1925). Section 54 Eight Little Letters Make Three Little Words: Words by Bert Kalmar (1884-1947); Music by Ted Snyder (1881-1965). Section 55, Koenig Heinrich der Achte – Prologue was translated into the German by Wolf Graf Baudissin (1789-1878). Section 65, The Eight Immortals of the Wine Cup was translated into English by Shigeyoshi Obata. Section 77, In The Year 2889 was jointly written by Jules Verne (1828-1905) and Michel Verne (1861-1925). […]

    27/07/2024

    Евреи и Россия (Jews and Russia)

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    Chapter: 20 | Listen: 1

    Collection of articles 1903-1912 that became seminal to the organized Zionist movement in Russian Empire and the world. In Russian. 2014 marks the 50th anniversary of the restoration of historic justice—transfer of the remains of Vladimir Jabotinsky to the land of Israel by the decision of the Israeli Government, as Jabotinsky demanded in his will. Vladimir (Ze’ev) Jabotinsky (1880-1940), founder and inspirational leader of Russian Zionism, founder of the Jewish Legion, “Irgun”, and “Beitar”, writer, poet, essayist, journalist, translator, and perhaps the most underrated writer of the 20-th century. For 16 years (1948-1964), the Government of Israel did not take the initiative in acting upon his last will. The controversy is still boiling: in 2008, the Israeli Minister of Education announced plans for withdrawal of the Jabotinsky name from the school programs (plans not implemented). Собрание статей 1903-1912 гг., которые заложили идейную основу сионистскому движению в Российской Империи и во всем мире. В 2014 году исполняется 50 лет восстановлению исторической справедливости — перенесению останков Владимира Жаботинского в землю Израиля по решению правительства Государства Израиль — как это требовал сам Жаботинский в своём завещании. Владимир (Зеэв) Жаботинский (1880-1940) — основатель и идеолог Российского сионизма, создатель Еврейского легиона и организаций «Иргун» и «Бейтар»; писатель, поэт, публицист, журналист, переводчик и, возможно, самый недооцененный литератор 20-го века. Правительство Израиля в течение 16 лет (1948-1964) не проявляло инициативы в исполнении его последней воли. Страсти не утихают до сих пор — в 2008 г. израильской министр образования объявил о планах изъятия имени Жаботинского из школьных программ […]

    27/07/2024

    Lavender Lit 101 – International LGB Literature up to 1923

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    Chapter: 29 | Listen: 2

    International LGB Literature up to 1923 This is a collection of 30 American and European gay, lesbian, & bisexual writers from the 16th thru early 20th Centuries. Heavy on poetry — including a rousing WWI anthem from 1915 — with a few short stories and essays. Non-English works should be read where possible in their original language.     [chương_files]  

    27/07/2024

    Sammlung kurzer deutscher Prosa 044

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    Chapter: 15 | Listen: 1

    Diese Sammlung umfasst 15 deutschsprachige Prosa-Texte verschiedener Genres. Eine Liste weiterer kurzer Aufnahmen (Erzählungen, Gedichte, Märchen, Essays) in anderen LibriVox Sammlungen gibt es hier. Das ovale Porträt übersetzt von Theodor Etzel (1873-1930) Die Nachtigall und die Rose übersetzt von Wilhelm Cremer (1874-1932) [Begegnung mit Farinelli] übersetz von Christoph Daniel Ebeling (1741-1817)     [chương_files]  

    27/07/2024

    LibriVox 10th Anniversary Collection

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    Chapter: 100 | Listen: 5

    This year is the 10th anniversary of our beloved LibriVox and to celebrate, readers have found and recorded 100 items with a connection to the number ten… … dix… zehn… diez…dez… десять… There are short stories, poems, excerpts from books, bible readings and non-fiction articles.The items are mostly in English, but this year we have eighteen contributions in other languages: French, German, Russian, Spanish and Yiddish..     [chương_files]  

    27/07/2024

    Essays and Dialogues

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    Chapter: 33 | Listen: 4

    “We would no more choose to feed the minds of our countrymen and women with the despairing utterances of the pessimist poet, than we would their bodies with hasheesh. Such melancholy as his clothed in such eloquent words may be the luxury of the idle; it is poison to those who have work to do in the world. It shuts out hope, the very spring of energy; it makes the cheerful steady pursuit of duty a thing utterly beyond human powers. For we can none of us stand alone. Either in human or divine love we must find the mainspring of all life worth living. There must be something outside of ourselves which we regard not with despair, but with hope.” — Handwritten dedication in the book, dated Feb. 19th, 1883     [chương_files]