14/07/2024
Christmas Stories from French and Spanish Writers
Fifteen short stories by Antoinette Ogden from French and Spanish writers of many times. – Summary by david wales [chương_files]
Published 1800 – 1900
14/07/2024
Uncle’s Dream
Uncle’s Dream by Fyodor Dostoyevsky was written following his five year exile to Siberia where he was sent to serve in a hard labor camp. Following what could only have been a harrowing and harsh existence in Russia’s infamous prison for political and social prisoners, one would expect Dostoyevsky’s work to have been dark and bitter. Rather, Uncle’s Dream is a humorous and yet scathing commentary on Russian provincial high-society. The story of elderly Prince K. who comes to visit the town of Mordasoff, lorded over by the imperious Maria Alexandrovna, is one of love, hate, deceit and greed. Standing reluctantly at Maria Alexandrovna’s side is her haughty daughter, Zina, who has few friends of her own. The prince’s companion and distant relative is Paul Mosgliakoff, suitor to Zina. Maria Alexandrovna and Zina are the central characters in the charade to lure the senile prince into a marriage of convenience (not for him but for Maria Alexandrovna and Zina). They, and a host of lesser characters, are brought to life in full color by Dostoyevsky’s masterful wordsmithing. Uncle’s Dream is a must listen for any fan of not only Dostoyevsky, but of Russian literature and the “goings-on” of the Russian “upper crust.” (Summary by Greg Giordano) [chương_files]
14/07/2024
Hard Times (version 2), Locked Out and On Strike
Hard Times was Dickens’s shortest novel and the only one to be set in the industrial north of England. A fast moving story with a typical cast of larger than life characters, the novel is a vehicle for a humanist critique of both utilitarian education (‘Teach these boys and girls nothing but facts’, says Mr. Gradgrind in the opening paragraph) and the mutual antagonism between capital and the trade union. A humanist education system, it turns out, is Dickens’s solution to the class struggle. Hard Times is set in the fictional Coketown and was partly inspired by a visit to Preston during the factory lockout that brought the town’s industry to a standstill in 1853. This version is read as it appeared in 20 issues of Dickens’s weekly Household Words from April to August 1854. It is followed by two earlier articles – Locked Out and On Strike – that describe Dickens’ visit to Preston and do much to clarify his thinking on education and class conflict. – Summary by Phil Benson [chương_files]
14/07/2024
Cradock Nowell Vol. 2
Cradock Nowell: a Tale of the New Forest is a three-volume novel by R. D. Blackmore published in 1866. Set in the New Forest and in London, it follows the fortunes of Cradock Nowell who, at the end of Volume 1, is thrown out of his family home by his father following the suspicious death of Cradock’s twin brother Clayton. It was Blackmore’s second novel, and the novel he wrote prior to his most famous work Lorna Doone. ( Wikipedia) *Warning: Some listeners may be offended by some of the language. Words that were considered acceptable in the nineteenth century are not always politically correct today. It is LibriVox policy to leave the original wording as the author intended. – Summary by Lynne Thompson Other volumes in the series: Cradock Nowell, volume 1 Cradock Nowell, volume 3 [chương_files]
14/07/2024
Around The Yule Log
Eleven yule-tide stories by a popular writer of the late 19th – early 20th centuries. – (Summary by david wales) [chương_files]
14/07/2024
In League With Israel
When Bethany Hallam travels to Chattanooga for the League Conference, she meets David Herschel, who challenges her thinking and changes her views about her missionary obligations to God’s “chosen people.” ( Esther ben Simonides) [chương_files]
14/07/2024
Country Doctor
A Country Doctor is a fiction novel by American author Sarah Orne Jewett. The book, which was first published in 1884, was based on the relationship between Jewett and her physician father. The main character of A Country Doctor, Nan, is a young woman who encounters much strife when she decides to go against the traditional values of the day and become a doctor. The book has been listed as an example of the shift in the perception of the role of women in society, with the main character of Nan choosing to pursue her career in medicine rather than a marriage and family – Summary by Wikipedia [chương_files]
14/07/2024
Marion Fay
Marion Fay (1882) offers a pair of romances, each involving a match between one titled personage and one commoner. The misalliances lead to the typical strains between parental desires and romantic wishes of the young. The novel’s primary characters have such noble dispositions that Trollope was impelled to create several far more interesting minor characters who either threaten mayhem or provide amusing diversions. (summary by Arnold Banner) [chương_files]
14/07/2024
Celebrity
Satirizes the rise of a young novelist (thought to be Richard Harding Davis, but denied as such by Churchill). – Summary by Joseph Tabler [chương_files]
14/07/2024
Selected Classics of Washington Irving
Washington Irving is one of early America’s most treasured writers. He is best known for his wit and satirical voice. Irving had the extraordinary ability to paint a picture in words on the canvas of the printed page. Irving spent time in England where he wrote some of his best work. This collection includes two of his most famous works: “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” In these two classics, set in New York, Irving brings the legends and daily goings on of the early settlers to life in vivid color and detail. Additionally, two of Irving’s essays about England, both rural and metropolitan, round out his Trans-Atlantic descriptions of life in a bygone era. (Greg Giordano) [chương_files]