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Trumpet Major

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Published 1800 - 1900
Chapter: 42 | Listen: 4

Our heroine, Anne Garland, lives quietly in a rural community deep in the English countryside. However, the arrival of several regiments preparing for an expected invasion brings colour and chaos to the county. A graceful and charming young woman, Anne is pursued by three suitors: John Loveday, the trumpet-major in a British regiment, honest and loyal; his brother Robert, a merchant seaman and womaniser, and Festus Derriman, the cowardly son of the local squire. Set at the time of the Napoleonic wars, this is the author’s only historical novel, and unusually for Hardy’s books, some of the characters live happily ever after. (Summary adapted from Wikipedia by Cori Samuel.) [chương_files]

Bucking the Tiger

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Published 1900 onward
Chapter: 15 | Listen: 4

A group of down-and-outers decide on the ultimate gamble: they will bankroll one of themselves, chosen by lot, to live well for a year. Then the one chosen must commit suicide after that year, so that the others can cash in on his life insurance policy. Complications arise when the “lucky winner” finds an unexpected turn in his fortunes. How can he get out of it with his honor intact, or will he “welch” on the deal? “Bucking the tiger” refers to the game of Faro, one of the most popular card games played in saloons and gambling halls in the 1800s. The name is thought to have come from early card backs that featured a drawing of a Bengal tiger. (Summary by TriciaG) [chương_files]

Lifted Veil (Version 2)

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Published 1800 - 1900
Chapter: 4 | Listen: 2

George Eliot’s 1859 novella, The Lifted Veil, departs radically from the grounded realism of her longer and better known works, such as Middlemarch and Daniel Deronda. Its tone calls to mind the works of middlebrow Sensationists, like Wilkie Collins (The Moonstone), and of some of the better known authors of Victorian era horror writings, such as Bram Stoker (Dracula) and Mary Shelley (Frankenstein). Eliot here explores mystical themes, considering the world of phenomena which are felt but not seen. Yet in doing so she suggests that the apparent clairvoyance of her main character, Latimer, may in fact be, at least in part, psychological expressions of his early life experiences. This view is supported by the fact that most of Latimer’s vision-based predictions of how people will behave and events unfold do not, in the end, turn out as he had foretold. Much of this work’s power and complexity lie in Latimer’s relationship with Bertha, whom he ultimately, unhappily, marries. Bertha is the one person whose thoughts and feelings he is not able to read, raising the question: What is it about Bertha that renders her inaccessible to his psychic penetration – and what does this tell us about her, and about him. (Introduction by Kirsten Wever) [chương_files]

Hymnen an die Nacht

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Poetry
Chapter: 6 | Listen: 2

Hymnen an die Nacht ist der Titel eines Gedichtzyklus von Novalis (Friedrich von Hardenberg). Der Zyklus wurde zuerst 1800 in der Zeitschrift Athenäum veröffentlicht. Die Hymnen an die Nacht ist das einzige größere Werk, das zu Novalis’ Lebzeiten veröffentlicht und auch von ihm fertiggestellt wurde. Die Hymnen werden als Höhepunkt seiner Lyrik angesehen und können wohl zurecht als die bedeutendste Dichtung der Frühromantik bezeichnet werden. Der Text besteht aus sechs Hymnen. Diese können in drei Teile zu je zwei Hymnen gegliedert werden. In jedem dieser Teile kann das gleiche Grundmuster gefunden werden. Die jeweils ersten Hymnen beschreiben in einem für Novalis typischen dreistufigen Modell die Entwicklung vom Leben im glücklichen, irdischen Reich des Lichts über eine Phase der schmerzhaften Entfremdung zur Befreiung in der ewigen Nacht. Die jeweils zweiten Hymnen schildern das ernüchternde Aufwachen aus der Vision und die Sehnsucht nach der Rückkehr zu dieser Vision. Die drei Zyklen sind als Steigerung angelegt; in jeder dieser Stufen wird eine höhere Ebene der Erfahrung und des Wissens erreicht. (Wikipedia) English Description: In August 1800, eight months after completion, the revised edition of the Hymnen an die Nacht was published in the Athenaeum. They are often considered to be the climax of Novalis’ lyrical works and the most important poetry of the German early Romanticism. The six hymns contain many elements which can be understood as autobiographical. Even though a lyrical “I”, rather than Novalis himself, is the speaker, there are many relationships between the hymns and Hardenberg’s experiences from 1797-1800. The […]

Ukraina and the Peace-conference

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Essays & Short Works, Modern (20th C), Political Science
Chapter: 8 | Listen: 4

The 19th century was the Golden Age of Nationalism in Europe. By the end of the century many countries achieved their national self-determination. But the asunder of the territories was still a cause of dispute which led to the Great War (WWI) in 1914. Ukrainian nationalism reached its peak in the early years of the 20th century. The Great War was the opportunity of the nation to obtain its unification and liberty from Russian Empire and Austria-Hungary which kept Ukraine under their reign for decades. Ukrainian intelligentsia and peasants of all ages and genders from both parts of the divided Ukraine united for a common goal – the independence of Ukraine. Ukrainian National Republic was created as the result of the struggle. Despite the large population of this nation, UNR still had to fight for its recognition by the world. – Summary by Anastasiia Solokha [chương_files]

Last Day of a Condemned

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Published 1800 - 1900
Chapter: 6 | Listen: 3

A man who has been condemned to death writes down his cogitations, feelings and fears while he is waiting for his execution. He does not betray his name to the reader or what he has done. He describes his life in prison, everything from what his cell looks like to the personality of the prison priest. (Introduction by Wikipedia) Part of Section 2 read by Nadine Eckert-Boulet This project was proof listened by lh, Barry Eads, and Chieko. [chương_files]

Les Chants de Maldoror

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Poetry
Chapter: 60 | Listen: 2

Les Chants de Maldoror is a poetic novel (or a long prose poem) consisting of six cantos. It was written between 1868 and 1869 by the Comte de Lautreamont, the pseudonym of Isidore Lucien Ducasse. Many of the surrealists in the early 1900s cited the novel as a major inspiration to their own works and Les Chants de Maldoror, and its protagonist Maldoror, have continued to fascinate people since its publication. The work revolves around the misanthropic character of Maldoror, a figure of absolute evil who is opposed to God and humanity, and has renounced all ties to conventional morality and decency. The iconoclastic imagery and tone is typically violent and macabre, and ostensibly nihilistic. Les Chants de Maldoror is considered to have been a major influence upon French Symbolism, Dada and Surrealism. From Wikipedia [chương_files]

The Wanderings of Oisín

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Poetry
Chapter: 3 | Listen: 2

This narrative poem is composed in three parts, and consists of a dialogue between the aged Irish hero Oisín and St. Patrick. Oisín relates his three-hundred year sojourn in the immortal isles of Faerie. In the isles, Oisín married the beautiful Sidhe Niamh: together they traveled, feasted, and quested. At last Oisín succumbs to the temptation to return and visit the lands of mortal men: inadvertently slipping from his faerie horse, his body touches the ground and instantly puts on the flesh of a decrepit old man. Oisín describes various islands and what he did there: contrasting his noble deeds with the degenerate weakness of the present generation. [chương_files]

Vintage Verse Rhapsody A Poetry Collection

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Poetry
Chapter: 33 | Listen: 5

A collection of poetry selected and performed by Bob Gonzalez, rhapsode. Rhapsodes of Ancient Greece were “song-stitchers,” performing selections from the epics of Homer and Hesiod. The contemporary rhapsode performs the classical poetry of his or her language, culture, and tradition. Any particular collection and arrangement of poems for performance I term a “rhapsody.” In general terms, a rhapsody is an ecstatic expression of feeling and enthusiasm. In music, a rhapsody is an instrumental composition irregular in form and suggestive of improvisation. The poems in this rhapsody comprise a number of poems that I have performed in public and known for much of my life as well as several recent additions to my repertory. They are arranged in chronological order from the 16th century to the early 20th century. Some of the poets represented here are Edmund Spenser, William Shakespeare, John Donne, John Milton, Alexander Pope, William Blake, William Wordsworth. John Keats, Alfred Tennyson, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Lewis Carroll, and Robert Frost. [chương_files]

11/07/2024

Irish Land Question

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Political Science
Chapter: 17 | Listen: 7

“What I want to impress upon those who may read this paper is this: The Irish land question is not a mere local question; it is a universal question. It involves the great problem of the distribution of wealth, which is everywhere forcing itself upon attention. It can not be settled by measures which in their nature can have but a local application. It can only be settled by measures which in their nature will apply everywhere as readily as in Ireland.” (Summary by Henry George) [chương_files]