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Love and Friendship

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Epistolary Fiction, Essay/Short nonfiction, Fiction, Humor, Literature, Romance, Satire, Teen/Young Adult
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 […]

Life Waves

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Poetry
Chapter: 89 | Listen: 3

This is a volume of poetry by American author Frances Cook Steen, published in 1922. These poems reflect with clarity on the preceding decade, including the war and all the other personal and historical events which Ms Steen lived through and witnessed. – Summary by Carolin [chương_files]

Ancient Poems, Ballads, and Songs of the Peasantry of England

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Poetry
Chapter: 109 | Listen:

This traditional, and, for the most part, unprinted literature,—cherished in remote villages, resisting everywhere the invasion of modern namby-pamby verse and jaunty melody, and possessing, in an historical point of view, especial value as a faithful record of the feeling, usages, and modes of life of the rural population,—had been almost wholly passed over amongst the antiquarian revivals which constitute one of the distinguishing features of the present age. While attention was successfully drawn to other forms of our early poetry, this peasant minstrelsy was scarcely touched, and might be considered unexplored ground. There was great difficulty in collecting materials which lay scattered so widely, and which could be procured in their genuine simplicity only from the people amongst whom they originated, and with whom they are as ‘familiar as household words.’ – Summary by Robert Bell [chương_files]

Dulcamara

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Poetry
Chapter: 18 | Listen:

This is a collection of poetry and prose by Howard Saxby. These pieces are the sort of stories and poems that can be enjoyed by children because the humour in them is universal, but they are more geared towards adults. The themes and intent of the pieces are varied, with humour prevailing in most items. – Summary by Carolin [chương_files]

Child Songs of Cheer

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Poetry
Chapter: 71 | Listen:

This is a little volume of children’s poetry by Indiana poet Evaleen Stein. The poems in this volume concern really anything that could be fun for children, from picking flowers to learning things in school to sledding in the winter. – Summary by Carolin [chương_files]

Rivers to the Sea (Version 2)

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Poetry
Chapter: 7 | Listen: 2

Sara Teasdale never disappoints. This lovely book of lyrical poems reminds us of the eternal verities of love, loss and life. – Summary by AnnaLisa Bodtker [chương_files]

Lieder der Bilitis

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Erotica, Poetry
Chapter: 147 | Listen: 1

Der für seine feinsinnige Erotik bekannte Lyriker und Romanschriftsteller Pierre Louÿs ist durch eine kreative Übersetzung angeblich neu entdeckter Gedichte einer antiken griechischen Lyrikerin mit Namen Bilitis berühmt geworden. Die bis dahin unbekannte griechische Dichterin, die Louÿs dem Umkreis der Sappho zuordnet, hat wohl nie gelebt. In der Einleitung präsentiert Louÿs das Leben der Bilitis in Prosa. Die Lieder selbst sind in ihrer Form an Vorbildern antiker Poesie orientiert und geben in den drei Hauptabschnitten, Hirtenlieder in Pamphilien (1-44), Elegien in Mytilene (45-91) und Epigramme auf der Insel Kypros (92-143), Phasen im Leben der Bilitis wieder (Kindheit und erwachende Sexualität, die Liebesgeschichte ihres Lebens sowie späteres Leben und Alter).Den Abschluss bilden die drei Grabinschriften. In ihnen gibt die angebliche Dichterin Hinweise auf ihre Herkunft und auf die Stationen ihrer Biografie. Zur Bekanntheit des Gedichtzyklus trug vor allem der erotische Film Bilitis des britischen Fotografen und Regisseurs David Hamilton bei. – Summary by lorda [chương_files]

Letters of Two Brides

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Epistolary Fiction, Fiction, Literature
Chapter: 57 | Listen: 4

An epistolary novel written by renowned French novelist Balzac, who is regarded as one of the founders of realism and a significant influence to later novelists, the novel focuses on two young women who preserve their friendship through regular correspondence. Originally published in the French newspaper La Presse in 1841 as a serial, the piece later became a part of Balzac’s distinguished novel sequence La Comédie Humaine, or The Human Comedy. Furthermore_, Letters of Two Brides_ surrounds intriguing topics including love, romance, confusion, duty, and the complexity of relationships. The novel begins when two young women, Louise de Chaulieu and Renée de Maucombe, befriend one another during their time at a convent and accordingly agree to stay in touch after they leave. Soon after her departure from the convent, Louise receives a substantial inheritance from her grandmother, which is intended to secure her financial independence and sustain her ambitious lifestyle. This freedom allows her to move to Paris where she devotes her time to exciting social events and also meets Felipe Henarez, who later wins her affections with his romantic perseverance. Her marriage to him provides her with passionate love and a seemingly endless supply of happiness, though it is in fact short-lived. Renée on the other hand, does not see love as a prerequisite for marriage and for that reason marries a man quite her senior, with the belief that he will care for her and fulfill her desire to become a mother. While Renée is satisfied with the […]

Sea Garden

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Poetry
Chapter: 28 | Listen: 3

This is a collection of poems by Hilda Doolittle about topics relating to the ocean, nature, or both. It contains vivid and descriptive language to convey a wide range of emotions. – Summary by Campbell Schelp [chương_files]

Fruitionless

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Poetry
Chapter: 17 | Listen: 2

LibriVox volunteers bring you 17 recordings of Fruitionless by Ina Coolbrith. This was the Fortnightly Poetry project for August 11, 2019. —— A wistful poem, capturing in a few lines the joy and industry of 3 of natures creations (flowers, birds, and bees), with the listlessness we humans sometimes feel. (Michele Fry) [chương_files]